Missing In Action
by xiao32615987
Summary: An average mission becomes quite a nightmare for one of our heroes when the worst thing imaginable happens. How will our heroes cope?
1. Chapter 1

_This is set during Series 3. It's already all been written, but I'll be putting it up on here piece by piece; this means that there will be no long waits for new bits. However, I would still very much like reviews of each and every new little bit that gets added; so please do take just two minutes to make a comment._

_Anyway; Missing In Action by xiao32615987_

* * *

Laser blasts flew around her as she ran forwards. Concentrating on her destination, she weaved a little as another volley was fired; she couldn't see the others. The rock in front of her loomed closer; if she could reach it she could get her bearings again. A hammer blow hit her square between the shoulders and she flew forwards. Unable to keep upright she slammed into the ground and slid into the very rock she had been trying to reach. She pulled herself up but dove back to the ground as three more shots hit the rock just where her head had been.

"Aelita be careful," Came Jeremie's voice, from the sky as always. He shouted something else, but Aelita was not listening. His voice had stirred her to move and in one swift action she leapt to her feet, evading the next three lasers. She concentrated on the three Bloks stumbling their way towards her, picking the lead one she closed her eyes as she focused her energy.

"Energy field!" She cried and the pink orb raced towards its target, which devirtualised with a satisfactory explosion. She didn't see the impact or the other two Bloks walk into each other in their confusion, she simply ran on around the rock.

"Aelita, Odd's been devirtualised, hurry up!" came Jeremie's voice again, sounding a little more panicked now, without Odd it only left her and Yumi. She ran down a narrow path, leading to yet another mountain and more lasers flew past, the Bloks were back. Concentrating quickly, Aelita fired behind her once more, but no sound of exploding monsters came; only returning fire.

She rounded the mountain and finally saw it, the activated tower. It was not far ahead and before it stood Yumi, devirtualising a Tarantula skilfully. Aelita continued her sprint as the Bloks came round the mountain as well, firing a jet of ice which only narrowly missed. Yumi ran towards Aelita to attack the monsters and her fans flew by, cutting a graceful path through the air. But throwing both weapons left her defenceless and Yumi was hit in the chest by two shots that had missed Aelita. She seemed to disintegrate before her eyes as the force threw her backwards and she was devirtualised.

"At least she did better than Odd." Aelita said to herself, but heard the sky protest in a familiar voice that made her smile. As she got close to the tower she noticed the lack of lasers, both fans had found their marks.

[***]

In the factory, Jeremie relaxed as he saw Aelita's triangle enter the tower. Xana had put up quite a fight on Lyoko and they had won, but something still worried him. 'What had Xana's attack actually been?' Jeremie thought, 'Why put up such a defence for a tower that you're not even going to use?'

"Hey Jeremie," said Ulrich beside him, bringing him back to Earth. "What do you think Xana's attack was anyway?" It seemed Ulrich had been thinking along the same lines as him. Jeremie was only dimly aware of Aelita's voice, "Tower deactivated." before he spoke.

"I'm not sure Ulrich," he said truthfully, "but we can only hope that we stopped him before he managed to get it through." Ulrich's expression looked unconvinced, "But I suppose we could take a look around, just in case."

"No way," Came Odd's voice from the corner, sulking slightly, "Tonight we've got spaghetti and meatballs and there's no way I'm missing that."

"Oh yeah," said Ulrich, "and you've got a date with that blonde girl from down the road… what was her name again?"

"You mean the one with the bent nose?" said Yumi incredulously. Ulrich nodded and they all broke out into laughter, all that is except Odd.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't tell!" Odd exclaimed, jumping to his feet and pointing an accusing finger at Ulrich.

"And you said you wouldn't leave your dirty socks on my bed." Came the retort and Yumi made a disgusted noise, she had first hand experience with Odd's old socks. They were laughing so much that Jeremie jumped when he heard the noise that came from the computer.

"Jeremie? You haven't forgotten about me have you?" Came Aelita's accusing voice. Jeremie felt his face burn, he had forgotten completely. More laughing came from behind and this time Odd was included in the chorus.

"Sorry Aelita," he said quickly, "I'll materialise you right now."

He brought up the necessary program as the laughter died down behind him and entered the codes, being careful to note that Aelita was now outside the tower. In just a few seconds the orders were inputted and it was ready.

"Okay." He said to himself, "Materialisation Aelita." And he hit the enter key.

The moment he had done so several windows popped up before him, each bearing a red exclamation mark and bleeping in alarm. He closed them hurriedly to shut off the noise and lead seemed to fill his stomach, his mouth was dry as he adjusted the microphone.

"A-Aelita? Are you still there?" he asked tentatively, aware of the others leaning in around him.

"Of course I am… You didn't forget about me again did you!?" She sounded slightly annoyed now.

"No." He answered, relief sweeping over him as though he were breathing it, dissolving the lead in his stomach. "There are just a few errors, so I can't rematerialise you, but hold on and I'll work it out."

"But how come it worked for me just a couple of minutes ago?" said Yumi beside him.

"Well- er… I don't know, maybe I did something wrong. I'll run a quick analysis of the program to see where the trouble-"

"Jeremie?" said Aelita's voice again.

"Hang on Aelita. Yeah, here it is, the analysis shows that the problem is in the devirtualisation part-"

"Jeremie?" Aelita now sounded more urgent.

"It's alright Aelita, you can't be rematerialised but I'm working on the solution. If I can just-"

"JEREMIE! HELP!"


	2. Chapter 2

His head snapped back up to the display where half a dozen monsters were bearing down on Aelita's position.

"Quick, get back inside the tower." He said hurriedly, but he already knew Aelita's response before she even opened her mouth.

"I can't, there are a couple of tarantulas blocking th- AH!" She screamed and Jeremie was faintly aware of her life points dropping to a dangerous level.

"Aelita! Run!" He cried even though she'd already begun sprinting. He had to think of a way to fix this but his mind was racing and he froze. Panic stole through him. It was his, Jeremie's, fault for keeping her waiting and allowing the monsters to approach, how could he have been so stupid? If she died now…

"Jeremie!" Came Ulrich's hard voice as a hand grabbed his shirt and shook him violently, "Snap out of it!"

The shout cleared his mind. Glancing at the screens again he saw that even though two of the attackers had been destroyed, yet more moved straight towards Aelita; along the ground and through the sky.

"Aelita; don't worry. I'll find a way to fix the program." He said, sounding far more confident than he felt, even as he looked back at the lines of code he knew that there was no way he could fix it before Aelita was lost. He switched off the microphone's connection, turned to the others and told them straight.

"There's no way I can fix it in time." His words were greeted with disbelieving stares, in some ways it was worse than contemplating what was about to happen to Aelita. He fought to control the feeling of despair that threatened to overwhelm him; he needed to if he was to think straight. "With the damage that's been done it would take hours to reprogram the coding for it."

"Isn't there any other way to rematerialise her?" Said Ulrich, his voice uneven.

"What about the other materialisation program?" Chipped in Yumi, "The one you made for Aelita in the first place, the one that you saved me from the digital sea with?"

"She needs to be in a tower for that program to work and there's no way she'll make it to one now." Jeremie's response was slow and quiet. "Even if she did, the program's not all there anymore."

"Why not?"

"We took it apart because we didn't think we'd need it anymore." Jeremie couldn't keep the note of bitterness out of his voice, not that he tried very hard. They had dismantled it to keep Xana from using it and because they had needed a little more storage space, there were only parts of it left. "But maybe it's the parts that we need." He thought out loud.

"What are you on about?" said Odd, looking as though Jeremie had just tried to explain Quantum Theory to him.

"I think I've got it." He typed as fast as he could, entering codes and commands to find the data he needed, his effort kept up by the sight of Aelita's life points reaching only five. He had found what he needed; the codes from Aelita's materialisation program would be enough to repair the devirtualisation section, he felt like shouting in celebration, but then it hit him. Even with the new codes a full repair would still take over an hour, unless he could provide the supercomputer with some pre-existing data. There was only one option.

"Well, can you do it or can't you?" Ulrich said, leaning on the armrest.

"Yes, but I'll need to scan someone."

"Why?"

"I've got a self-repair program which I've been working on, but it's never been used before. This should fix the problem, but to do it fast enough it needs to be guided. Someone's got to go through a complete scanner cycle to help the self-repair program eliminate the errors."

"But I thought the materialisation program didn't work."

"It should repair it as it goes; so the person in the scanner will come back to us fine."

"But Jeremie," began Odd, "That's just stu-"

"I admit; it's not without its risks." He responded blandly.

"But who could do it?" Argued Yumi, "We can't go back, we've all just been devirtualised."

"All except me."

[*]

Aelita ducked as yet more lasers filled the air, she had not heard a word from Jeremie or the others for several minutes and had no idea how many life points she had left. She had managed to find a good position to defend herself from, surrounded by boulders, shielded from much of the fire that was coming her way. The only problem was those hornets, a clone of herself that she had created had lured them away for now, but it wouldn't be long before her trick faded.

"Energy field!" she cried for what felt like the hundredth time that day as she stepped out from behind her cover, two more pink orbs flew at the monsters and found their targets. She no longer had any need to aim; the wall of Xana's monsters made it impossible to miss. Diving back behind the rock as a volley of lasers hit it; she flinched at the pain in her chest. Every time she had been shot since the monsters had come she felt real physical pain. Her chest, waist and left leg had all taken powerful hits and she was finding it hard to dismiss the pain and concentrate on her actions; she had already failed to produce an energy field twice because of it.

"Aelita?" Jeremie's voice came again from the sky, filling her with both relief and fear at what he might have to say.

"Yes?" She sighed.

"Well, I'm afraid I don't have time to properly fix the program." She closed her eyes, feeling the rock shudder under the force of a Megatank's weapon. "But I think I've found another way to rematerialise you." Her hopes rose, good old Jeremie.

"I knew I could count on you." She whispered, opening her eyes to see more monsters approaching.

"Yes…" He must have heard, she thought. "It is a little risky though and-"

"It's okay Jeremie." She interrupted him. "If you've thought of it, I know it will work."

"Okay then." She heard him sigh, "Just hold on for another ninety seconds."

"See you in a minute."

Picking herself up from the floor; she felt bolder, she knew Jeremie would be able to get her out of this; he had done so much for her already, this was nothing. Even the sight of the wall of monsters sending shot after shot at her couldn't dampen her spirit. She fired another pair of energy fields into their midst, lingering out of cover for as long as she dared, toying with them.

The sound of buzzing reached her ears and the Hornets came from around the mountain; firing from above, their shots bypassed Aelita's defences as they rained lasers down at her. They were so inaccurate that they needn't have bothered anyway; she blocked those few of their shots that were on the mark almost lazily, they held no fear for her anymore.

Now she felt a change in Lyoko and knew that Jeremie had done whatever it was he had planned. She dismissed the energy field and gave the monsters one last playful little wave before the world dissolved around her.

[*]

A bright light greeted her on her return to Earth; she could hear some indistinct voices in the background. As her vision cleared she saw Yumi's face looking down at her, an expression of worry clear upon it and the background voices resolved into those of Odd and Ulrich, though they had now stopped speaking. Aelita realised at once that she was lying on the floor of the scanner room; it must have been a rough trip.

"How long was I out?" She asked Yumi, pulling herself into a sitting position and noticing that the pain in her chest seemed to have gone completely.

"Only five minutes," came Yumi's response, "How do you feel?"

"Great," she said; and it was half-true, even though Yumi looked unconvinced. "Where's Jeremie?" Yumi looked away for a moment before pointing behind her, to where Odd and Ulrich were visible kneeling beside another scanner. Aelita shifted her head and saw what they were kneeling over, a head of blonde hair and a pair of glasses… Jeremie.

Scrambling to her feet, Aelita almost threw herself towards them in her panic. She pushed Yumi over in order to steady herself, shoved Odd to one side and dropped to her knees beside the clearly unconscious Jeremie.

"He's alive," said Ulrich, noticing the fearful look on Aelita's face, "but his pulse is very slow." Aelita was stunned, where at first she had been happy she now felt the same as she had done when she was alone against all those monsters, except it seemed to be magnified tenfold. Her heart was beating faster than she had ever known it to.

"Why don't we launch a return to the past?" She heard herself say, her voice shaking.

"We tried." Said Odd and he moaned, rubbing the back of his head. "The computer's totally trashed."

"What!?" she exclaimed, "What do you mean?"

"He means," stepped in Ulrich as Odd nursed the spot where his head had hit the scanner, "that after you two came out of the scanners; the computer upstairs just seemed to explode, we can't get anything out of it; even Jeremie's laptop seems to have had it."

The news hit Aelita like a sledgehammer; but she had to do something, she couldn't just sit here and wait. Resolving on a course of action, she pulled her phone from her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Questioned Yumi; standing above her. Yumi's very pose was enough to make Aelita pause.

"Jeremie needs help, so I'm going to get some." She said defensively.

"We can't just let people into the factory!" Aelita flinched at Yumi's harsh tone.

"We can't just sit here. We've got to do something." Aelita pleaded.

"I know," said Yumi softly, "But the last thing we need right now is strangers poking around the lab. We'll take Jeremie back to the school and then call for help."


	3. Chapter 3

The slow, steady beep of the hospital machines hardly registered inside Aelita's mind. She could barely remember the last hour; she had no idea how they had managed to carry him all the way back to the school, alert the principle and invent a convincing story. After spending some time in the infirmary, during which Aelita and the others were questioned, the nurse had decided to transfer Jeremie to the hospital. Aelita distinctly recalled insisting on being the one to accompany him in the ambulance; needlessly though, as the others had simply remained silent.

Jeremie lay on the bed and she sat beside him; alone, the doctors having already moved on to other patients. Since they had left she had held his hand in hers; hoping to feel him squeeze it, just to know that he was still there. But there had been nothing for such a long time that she had given up hope.

She was alerted to a noise behind her as the door clicked and swung open and footsteps entered the room. The footsteps stopped, barely through the door which clicked closed again behind them. Aelita placed Jeremie's hand gently back down onto the bed, sighing as she did so, and turned to face the others.

[*]

Yumi had stopped almost the moment that she had entered. She had expected Aelita to be there, but was still surprised to see her sitting there like that; holding one of Jeremie's hands and with such a serious look on her face. Aelita had turned round to face her, her cheeks slightly pink; Yumi felt embarrassed, feeling as though she had just walked in on something private.

"How's Jeremie doing?" She asked tentatively, hoping that only her concern for Jeremie would be conveyed in her voice.

[*]

"The same as before," Aelita responded, looking carefully at the floor but still aware of Odd and Ulrich moving to the side of the bed. "They don't know what's wrong with him." She turned back to Jeremie and wondered if they would know what to do, if they had known exactly what had happened. Yumi seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Nothing we could have told them would help them," she said, from right behind Aelita, "The supercomputer is like nothing else that exists, they'd be challenged to understand it."

"Don't worry Princess," chipped in Odd cheerfully, from down by Jeremie's feet. "These doctors go through years of training to get to here, as soon as they've done their thing, Einstein will be back on his feet."

"I guess you're right." Aelita muttered, Odd's own brand of optimism rarely failed to cheer her up, but this time something in the back of her mind pestered her to be cautious. "But I still want to repair the return to the past," she added, "If Jeremie's still not out of the hospital by then, I'll use it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Asked Ulrich; speaking for the first time in the past hour.

"Yes, everything will go back to the way it was; Jeremie won't have needed to put himself in danger."

"He knew there was a risk, he told you-"

"He told me there was risk alright," Aelita interrupted, her voice wavering slightly, "But I never thought that he was the one at risk." It felt terrible to admit, but it was true. Aelita would never have let it happen if he had told her the whole truth; and Jeremie had known that.

"It's time for all of us to get back to the school;" Yumi said softly, "the Principle wanted to talk to us, I don't think that he was fully convinced by our cover story." The boys made noises of assent and they made towards the door, "You too, Aelita." Added Yumi.

"Okay, I'll just be a second." She said, not looking at any of them. When she was sure that they had left the room, she stood. Standing over Jeremie she saw how peaceful he looked; almost as though he was sleeping, she smiled. Bending low over him, she planted a kiss on his forehead; before grabbing her bag and jogging out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Aelita met the others in the courtyard the next day, just before lunch, she was feeling particularly happy and smiled broadly at them.

"You're in a good mood." Commented Ulrich as she caught up with them and they continued their walk to the cafeteria.

"I managed to fix most of the computer's hardware last night," she said, "We can access the supercomputer and Lyoko again now."

"Has Xana trashed the place while we weren't there to keep an eye on him?" Inquired Odd, sniffing the air as the smell of baked potatoes wafted over.

"No, everything's quiet." She responded, dismissing a nagging voice in the back of her mind. "In fact all I need to do is let a few diagnostic programs finish and if all goes well, I'll be able to hit the return to the past tonight."

"Does this mean that I don't have to do my homework?"

"I'm going to head over there in a couple of hours to watch the results come in." Aelita continued, ignoring Odd. He always commented about homework that he didn't have to do or had had to do twice because of a Xana attack. "Do you guys want to come with me?"

"No chance," said Yumi, with a short laugh, "I'm going to be in trouble if I don't get some work done for Ms Hertz and those two," she indicated the boys, "have gone and landed themselves in detention all afternoon." Aelita raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Ulrich.

"Don't ask." He responded, "It was Odd's fault." Aelita was saved the need of asking anyway as they reached the doors to the cafeteria and Odd jumped up the steps.

"Well, I'm off." She said.

"Hang on," said Yumi, with a frown upon her face. "I thought you said that you were going later."

"Well… I'm going to visit Jeremie first." Aelita felt herself blush a little, but Yumi's frown softened into a smile.

"Go on then, we'll see you later."

Aelita smiled back, before turning away and setting off at a quick pace. As she went, she heard Odd's call from behind her.

"Hey! Can I have your portion?"

[*]

In the hospital, Aelita had sat and recounted at length how she had done fixing the computer to the unconscious Jeremie that lay before her. She didn't know if he could hear her at all, but it made her feel better to think that he could; and if he could, she liked to think that it made him feel better.

"…and I initiated the connection, and it worked!" She finished, before voicing something that had been bothering her, "I'm sure that you'd be proud of me- or at least… I hope." She paused; it was hard to know what Jeremie thought of her. Every time that she thought she knew, something else had come along and filled her with doubts. It was those doubts that had resurfaced now; but there was another nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her that something was wrong.

She shook her head to clear it and pushed that nagging thought to the back of her mind; she would worry about it later, for now she just wanted to sit here by Jeremie.

[*]

It was already mid-afternoon; Aelita had stayed far longer than she had originally intended, yet she was still reluctant to leave. She stood and stretched for a moment, feeling light-headed as colours swam before her eyes, before she decided that it was finally time to go.

She was in the process of reaching down for her bag when it happened, a single noise that made her heart seem to stop. She straightened suddenly and saw that the machine which issued a friendly, intermittent bleep now seemed to be screaming a single, harsh, constant tone. Reacting automatically, Aelita's hand slammed into the assistance button and it was mere seconds before she heard footsteps pounding down the corridor.

The door slammed open as several men and women piled through it, they ran over to Jeremie's body and blocked it from view, shouting out rough orders. Aelita had simply frozen in place, her feet rooted to the ground as one of the doctors slammed his fists into Jeremie's chest. The room was a riot of noise, with voices shouting and the harsh constant scream of the machine; but Aelita stood oblivious, held as though her feet were attached to the floor. It was only when a gentle voice spoke in her ear and a soft hand took hers that she allowed herself to be taken from the room.

[*]

Aelita now found herself on the soft seats of a nearby waiting area; a cup of hot chocolate was cradled in both hands, it was so hot that it was held inside two cups to stop her hands from burning. She looked down at its surface, the colour reminded her so much of the mountain rocks of Lyoko; they were exactly the same shade of brown. 'That was where Jeremie risked his life to save me.' She thought and felt her throat burn suddenly and forced herself to look elsewhere.

The corridors were cold, clinical and practically bare; apart from the notice boards that were placed at strategic points to catch the eye. Aelita tried reading some of the posters on the nearest one, but after several attempts she found herself taking nothing in. Her thoughts kept returning to Jeremie, it had been some time since she had left his room and she had not seen any of the doctors that had entered since; either they were still in there, or they had forgotten about her.

Footsteps echoed down the long corridor; but Aelita ignored them, it was unlikely that they were coming for her. It was only after she heard them very close that she looked up.

A young doctor was walking hurriedly towards her, a harried look on his face. Aelita instantly recognised him as one of those that had come to Jeremie's room and stood up expectantly as he approached. The young doctor stopped before her and mouthed silently; apparently unable to speak.

"Is Jeremie okay?" Aelita asked him and it pained her to see the look on his face as he lowered himself down to her height.

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this," he said slowly, "but he didn't make it… We tried our best, but he died."

Aelita simply stood and stared and the doctor's expression, it was serious and sad and at once she knew his words to be true. Her throat burned and tears welled up in her eyes; but even so, disbelief filled her mind. The hot chocolate fell to the floor without her even noticing and it splashed her leg, but the pain didn't register.

The doctor turned around and called for one of his colleagues. As he did so, something took over in Aelita's mind and powered her legs into movement. She ran through the corridors; then broke into a sprint, leaving the stunned doctor in her wake as she fled the hospital.


	5. Chapter 5

The door to the lab hissed and slid open in its usual manner; Aelita had not stopped sprinting till she had reached the factory, even knocking over several people on the way. Since she had arrived here the disbelieving voice at the back of her mind had taken over, everything had looked so normal.

'Jeremie's not dead; he can't be, look at how normal everything is.' The voice insisted, 'He is in the factory, where he always is.' Aelita wanted to believe it so much; but as she looked in, the room was clearly empty. It was in the same state she had left it last night, with boxes of parts and CDs littering the floor. 'He's somewhere; you just need to find him.' The voice continued; and Aelita followed it, stepping into the room to begin a search.

As she walked, pain forced the voice to relinquish its control and Aelita's mind was brought back. The pain came from her left leg; burned by the hot chocolate, it now shouted for her attention as her boot rubbed against it. Deciding to take care of her burnt leg first, Aelita retrieved the first aid kit that Jeremie had insisted was to be kept in the lab and sat herself against a wall with it.

Removing her boot and sock she saw that the burn extended down her leg where the liquid had leaked into the boot. She remembered how to treat the burn and knew that the necessary items would be in the first aid kit; Jeremie had ensured it, especially after-

"No!" She said out loud; she wouldn't think about him, doing so would make everything too real. She quickly swept water from her eyes using her sleeve and resumed the task of her own physical wellbeing.

It wasn't long before she had finished; bandaging her leg ensured that further pain wouldn't be caused by her own footwear. As she finished tucking the bandage in, she was alerted by a 'ping' from the computer. Getting up slowly; she made her way towards it, where a notice flashed upon the screen. It told her that her analysis programs had finished; the return to the past was in full working order… too late.

Anger filled her, rage inside every recess of her mind. She could have saved Jeremie; if only she had initiated the return in time last night rather than waiting. Jeremie had died not only to save her but also as a result of her own inability to save him. It was all her fault! She hated Xana, the supercomputer, even her own father but most of all she hated herself.

The boxes full of parts and CDs were the first to feel her anger; smashed and scattered across the room, fragments of CD would shine even in the dim light of the lab. The first aid kit too was flung into the opposite wall; cracking open, its contents thrown over the floor. Aelita turned her attention to the holosphere and swung a fierce kick at it, but pain shot through her once more as her unprotected left foot made contact with the solid metal. She grabbed her foot and at once lost balance; her right hand grabbed hold of the single chair in the room, her left only succeeding in hitting the computer keyboard as it fought to find something to grip. She just managed to keep herself steady when she heard a very familiar voice.

"This is Emergency Program Two…" Aelita looked up to see Jeremie talking to her from the computer, the anger drained from her at once as she stared at him, it couldn't be… could it?

No it couldn't she realised at once. The Jeremie on the computer was sitting in the very chair upon which Aelita was leaning; it had to be a recording.

"If you've found this, whoever you might be," Jeremie continued, looking extremely serious. "Then it means that I have either been captured by Xana..." he paused, "…or killed."

"The program that is currently running is designed to safeguard all of the extra files held by myself in the secure part of the computer. This program is actively re-encrypting everything and resetting the password locks that guard it, Aelita will know the new passwords." Jeremie smiled for a moment as he said it, but his face became serious again quickly. "I trust you all to keep fighting Xana and it was a pleasure to be part of such a group of friends. I hope that you all do well and are okay." Jeremie fell silent for a long moment.

"Aelita," She jumped at being addressed personally, "there's something important that I want to tell you." His expression was soft and slightly embarrassed; Aelita felt herself fill with familiar warmth, although her stomach tightened expectantly. "We've been friends for a long time; and it's been great; but I just want you to know that I-" He was cut off by the lab doors beginning to open behind him; he looked around quickly before turning back to the computer.

"I'll finish this later." He said quickly and the recording ended. Aelita stood there for some time as the full gravity of the day's events hit home for the first time and she realised that whatever happened, she would never see Jeremie again.

She let go of restraint, even the voice in the back of her mind seemed to have given up. She slumped onto the floor as her throat burned again and tears clouded her sight, but this time she let them fall and sobbed as she did so. Her whole world seemed to have come to an end.


	6. Chapter 6

Yumi, Ulrich and Odd had been marched straight into the principle's office by Jim, even though the boys still had a detention to sit. Yumi raised an eyebrow at Ulrich, who simply shrugged, even Odd looked bewildered. Mr. Delmus was sat behind his desk with such an expression that Yumi would've thought they were in a huge amount of trouble, were it not for the forlorn look that he gave to the group stood before him. The principle cleared his throat before speaking.

"I've called you three here because you are the closest friends of Jeremie Belpois." He began, clearly trying to keep a level tone, "I'm afraid that I have some bad news to give to you." Yumi and Ulrich exchanged an alarmed glance, bad news about Jeremie could only mean…

"Has something happened? Is Jeremie okay?" Said Ulrich, voicing all of their fears.

"I'm afraid so," continued Delmus, now looking at their feet. "approximately an hour ago Jeremie went into cardiac arrest. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, they couldn't do anything and he passed away. I'm sorry."

"What!?" Cried Odd, "You're joking right?" Delmus simply shook his head, Odd seemed to go extremely pale.

The news had hit Yumi like a sledgehammer and if it were not for Ulrich gripping her hand at that moment, she thought she might have fainted. Ulrich himself greeted the news in a strong, stony-faced silence; Yumi respected that most about him, it even gave her strength when things looked down. As she stared at him, she was forcibly reminded of someone else.

"What about Aelita?" She burst out suddenly, turning back the Principle "Does she know?" Delmus simply sighed, his gaze now settling on Yumi.

"Miss Stones was at the hospital when it happened." He said, "Afterwards she ran; but no one knows where. I've informed the police, who will be on the lookout for her." Yumi looked at the boys and saw her own concern mirrored in their eyes; they could grieve for Jeremie after Aelita had been found.

"Sir," she said tentatively, "I think it might be better if we went to look for her."

"I agree." responded Delmus simply, "Contact me if you find her. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to inform Belpois' parents." He sighed and turned to a file upon his desk.

"We should split up," Yumi told the others as they left the office, "I'll check the streets around the hospital, Odd can check the factory and Ulrich can search the Hermitage. Okay?" They nodded in agreement. "Right, let's go."


	7. Chapter 7

Aelita didn't know how long she had sat there before her phone began to ring; her face and knees were wet from her tears and she didn't even bother to wipe her eyes as she pulled the ringing phone from her pocket. The pink mobile identified the caller as being Yumi; and Aelita wondered, did they know? As she thought the ringing stopped and it simply lay silent in her hand; she shut it off, she wanted to be alone.

The others wouldn't understand how she felt, Jeremie had never meant as much to any of them. Jeremie; he had given her that phone, bought it on the first day she had spent as a student at Kadic with them simply because he wanted to 'stay in touch'. It wouldn't help her now, she thought bitterly; Jeremie was far beyond her reach.

'Not as far as you think.' The voice was back, it hid in the back of her mind and surfaced full of mindless optimism. By now Aelita had learnt not to let it take control, it was simply herself refusing to believe that Jeremie was gone; she would not listen to it.

'Jeremie just went away and left you, he wouldn't do that.' It persisted and Aelita tried harder to shut it out, but how do you shut out something that is within your own mind?

'He abandoned you.' The voice turned sinister for the first time, 'He died and he left you, he did nothing to help you-'

"SHUT UP!" Aelita screamed, jumping to her feet. Her own cry echoed around the room; she was breathing heavily, but the voice had gone. She shivered; how could she have such thoughts after everything Jeremie had done for her?

A noise snapped her back to her own mind; the whirring and clanking noise of the lift as it made its way down. She panicked; she didn't want to be found like this. She cast around for a hiding spot.

[*]

The lift trundled down and Odd felt the back of his head; he examined the spot where it had hit the scanner yesterday, the lump had gone down. He felt no anger at Aelita for being the one to have caused it; rather, Aelita was his only concern at the moment. Sure, he had been devastated by the news of Jeremie's death, but Aelita was closer to the blonde boy than any of them; if he felt this bad, she must feel a thousand times worse. The lift shuddered to a halt and the doors slid open. Odd had prepared himself for the worst, but even he was surprised by this.

The lab was a complete mess; there were parts of circuit boards and wires scattered across the floor; shattered CDs glittered like broken glass as he stepped forwards; a medical kit was cracked open upon the floor, bandages and medicines strewn on the hard metal surface like shrapnel from a bomb blast. Odd walked into the room, careful to watch where he stepped.

"Aelita?" he called to the empty room, knowing full well that there wouldn't be a response. He had turned to leave when a pair of objects caught his eye; he walked over and picked them up, a pink knee length boot and a long white sock. Odd might not be as smart as Jeremie when it came to computers, but even he could figure this one out. Dashing over to the computer, he quickly scanned the screens; nothing. There was no alert, only a page of data which he couldn't even begin to understand; the super scanner was active but had found nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Odd looked at the boot and sock again, then at the wreckage around him and understood; if he were Aelita he'd want to be alone right now too. He pulled out his mobile phone and punched in Yumi's number.

"Hello, Odd is that you?" Yumi's voice came through the speaker, she sounded worried and it was an unusual question to ask.

"Of course it is who else would it be?" He answered incredulously, just managing to keep himself from pulling out one of his jokes; Yumi didn't sound like she could take one.

"Have you found Aelita?" Odd considered very carefully before answering.

"No," he lied, "She's not at the factory, have you found her?"

"No," said Yumi, groaning as she heard the news, "and Ulrich hasn't either. Are you sure you searched thoroughly?"

"Every inch of the place." He lied again; it didn't feel natural to do so, but it was necessary. "And it's really dusty; we need to give this place a spring clean." He had to make fun of it; it was the only way he knew to make things feel normal.

"Odd, now is not the time for jokes, this is serious." Yumi's stern voice reminded him that she couldn't take a joke. "Search around again and check all the passages. Me and Ulrich are going to have another look round the woods and the Hermitage, meet back at my house when you're done."

Yumi hung up and Odd couldn't help but feel slightly angry with her. She had no reason to talk to him like that, they all felt bad; but then she didn't really know what was happening. He didn't like not telling Yumi; but it was for Aelita's good and it was Aelita, not Yumi, who really needed reassuring at a time like this.

He decided to leave; he would dawdle back to Yumi's, pretending that he'd searched the factory twice. Maybe he'd even get some food on his way; they had all skipped dinner to search for Aelita and he felt ravenous. His stomach groaned at him and made up his mind; but before he left he took the white sock and shoved it inside the boot, both of which he was still holding; he then took the boot and placed it on the seat of the lab's chair. Smiling slightly, he left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Aelita stayed hidden in the crawlspace above the lab for an hour; or maybe it was more, expecting Odd or one of the others to come back looking for her. When it was apparent that nobody was coming she climbed down the ladder and made straight for the chair.

She was grateful that Odd hadn't told Yumi; even he could be sensitive sometimes... only sometimes, though. She pulled her sock and boot back on; glad that they warmed her toes almost instantly, she had felt that they might freeze completely in the crawlspace.

She looked around the lab, unsure of what to do next; Jeremie had always known; he led them well in difficult situations. Aelita just wished he could be here to lead her now. She waited for a moment; expecting that little voice to chip in again, but it didn't. She actually missed it; even though it rejected everything, if felt so warm and familiar and had given her a sense of hope; except when it had become dark and harsh.

Shaking herself form her thoughts, she decided that it would be best if she simply went back to the school, someone would notice her absence otherwise.

[*]

"It's wonderful to be alive..." Aelita said happily. She was outside in the night, the cool air wafting around her; it was quiet and peaceful and she had never felt so alive, she wanted that night to last forever. Jeremie was with her and she held his hands in hers; they felt so warm in the cold air and it exhilarated her to be able to touch him. "…and it's thanks to you that I'm here."

"Well… I, uh… I didn't… do it alone." Jeremie responded, blushing and scratching the back of his head nervously. Aelita simply giggled gleefully as she pulled Jeremie down the street, breaking into a run.

[*]

Aelita had let her feet take her out of the factory and they had made her walk down to this spot where the memory had hit her. It had been on the night when Jeremie had first materialised her; they had walked from the factory feeling so happy, despite the looming threat of Xana's virus. It had been such a long time ago, when the sky was clear and a beautiful moon had hung there; it had felt so romantic. Of all the ideas of romance that she had read, she had found no better example than that night she had shared with Jeremie. She felt fresh tears run down her face as she thought of him, but made no attempt to brush them away. That night was so unlike this one, where thick clouds obscured the moon, raindrops began to fall and Jeremie was absent.

She let her feet continue to take her along and they kept to the path she had trodden on that night. She lingered at different points as memories flooded her mind; a shop where they had bought fizzy drinks and laughed as some had gone up her nose, a bench where they had sat and Jeremie had pointed out the stars to her, a booth where they had their photos taken together for the first time; all of this brought more tears to her eyes now, as she remembered how they had been so happy.

By now the tears on her cheeks were mixed with rain as the sky opened, as though determined to drown her. She didn't care; she neither raised her hood nor increased her pace, she was too lost in her own mind to even care for the world outside.

At last she reached the end of the route, where she and Jeremie had separated. This had been the point where she had first kissed him; on the cheek, but it had still made her so excited and she was sure that Jeremie had felt the same. She remembered fondly how Jeremie had called her 'Princess' for the first time; she was sure that that night had been as wonderful for him as it had for her, though they hadn't really talked about it afterwards.

This point also marked a point of dread for her as she knew where her feet would take her next. Even though she did not want to go, she could no more change it than she could bring Jeremie back to life. She sighed, took a deep breath and moved forwards.


	9. Chapter 9

_Now it's great to see how many people have read this story and added it to their favourites and/or story alert lists (quite a few of you, which is great). However, if you've taken the time to read this, add it to your favourites (or even just read this far into the story) then you obviously must like it; so please just take a couple of minutes to leave a little review or comment as the story progresses. Some might think 'Oh, I'll wait until it's finished; after all he's already written it.' which is true, but it is still nice to see a few 'I liked this bit' or 'I didn't like this bit because...' comments. _

_So If you've spent this long reading the story; please just spend a little bit longer leaving a comment. Thank you._

* * *

"Yumi, you're going to wear a hole in the carpet." Said Odd; as Yumi paced across the room.

"It's my carpet." She responded irritably; pausing for only a fraction of a second to look at Odd before continuing to pace across her own living room.

They had spent well over an hour searching the town for Aelita, with increasing desperation. Twice Yumi had tried to call her and had received no answer; the second time it had become apparent that Aelita's mobile had been switched off, she gave up after that. They had made it back to her house not long before the rain had begun to fall fiercely; Odd had arrived just before it did. They had shared with him the news that Aelita could not be found and he had told them how he had searched the factory twice; he had been very quiet since then.

Yumi had spent most of the night pacing; thinking about Aelita out somewhere in the town alone had filled her with worry, it wouldn't let her relax.

"Yumi." Said Ulrich and he grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. "There's nothing that we can do right now; we're best off if we sit and wait." Yumi looked straight into his eyes; they were fixed on her. She felt herself loosen; Ulrich had an incredible calming effect on her, not that she had ever told him this. She let herself be persuaded by his soft grip to sit on a sofa next to him, with Odd sitting opposite.

"We're all worried about Aelita," Ulrich continued, "but we've got to focus on what's best. We can't search the town all night or we'll exhaust ourselves."

"Ulrich's right," chipped in Odd, "Aelita's a big girl, she knows how to look after herself."

"I guess you guys are right." She heard herself admit, not that she really believed it. "It's just that she feels alone and in pain and she needs someone with her, to help her." Yumi didn't know where this had come from, but it felt good to admit. It would only be later when she would realise that she was describing herself.

"Aelita knows that she's not alone," said Ulrich, "when she's ready to do so, she'll find us."

"But what if something happens to her before then? What if Xana attacks or something else happens and she ends up getting herself killed?" She knew instantly that she shouldn't have said it; Ulrich withdrew his hand from hers and looked away, Odd merely scowled into the opposing corner.

"Don't talk about that." Odd said gruffly; maintaining his scowl at the corner, as though the wall had offended him. Yumi looked at Ulrich; this time he did not meet her eyes. Yumi retreated her gaze to the floor and brushed away a tear that ran down her cheek.

The three of them sat in a stony silence for several minutes before the doorbell rang. Yumi jumped; her parents were out with Hiroki for most of the night, a caller was the last thing that she had expected. Odd and Ulrich both looked at her expectantly, she had momentarily forgotten that it was her house. A long pause followed… the doorbell rang again.

"Odd, could you get that?" Yumi said, her own voice sounding very unfamiliar. She didn't want to move from this spot; for fear that the worry might start again. Odd simply nodded, got to his feet and left the room. The noise of the locks being withdrawn was clear to them, as was the creak of the opening door and a surprised cry from Odd. In seconds Odd returned to the room; and just behind him was Aelita.

The pink haired girl shuffled into the room; dragging her feet across the floor she looked a terrible sight. Her hair was flat over her head from the soaking that the rain had given it; her clothes too were heavy with water, which dripped steadily onto the floor. Her posture was slumped and she stared intensely at the floor, such that Yumi could not properly see her face.

"A-Aelita?" Ulrich said very carefully, testing the water.

"Hi." Aelita croaked, in a cracked voice that didn't seem like her own. Now she looked up, at Ulrich, and Yumi saw a remote and deeply saddened expression on her face. Her face was also wet from the rain, but Yumi noticed the bloodshot eyes and knew, with a stab of pity; that Aelita had been crying a lot. Yumi stood up; wanting to say something consoling to the girl, but something quite different came out.

"Where have you been?" She found herself shouting, "Why didn't you answer your mobile? We were worried about you, we thought you'd been-" She stopped abruptly at one look at Aelita's face; the expression had changed to fear, more tears began to pour from her eyes. Aelita was now staring at the floor again, sobbing slightly.

"I'm sorry." Aelita squeaked between sobs. Yumi felt horrified; she didn't know where it had come from, though she suspected that it was the last few hours of frustration.

"Yumi, how could you?" Protested Odd and he shot a deep scowl at her before moving forward to try to comfort Aelita, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Ignore Yumi; she's just really cranky today."

Yumi looked to Ulrich, who merely shook his head; it made her feel worse. Resolved to make things better; she stepped forwards and pushed Odd to one side before placing her arms around the crying girl and pulling her into a hug. She felt Aelita's hands on her own back as she cried into Yumi's shoulder.

"Aelita, I'm really sorry." Said Yumi, "I'm just so worked up over everything that's happened; forgive me." Aelita nodded into Yumi's shoulder and the two separated; Aelita had stopped crying and actually gave a weak smile, though only for a second. Yumi felt suddenly cold and noticed that her front has been soaked by hugging the drenched girl that stood before her. Aelita shivered slightly and Yumi realised that Aelita too must be freezing; sure enough there were goose-bumps on her legs… and something else.

"What happened to you?" Yumi exclaimed, pointing at the bandage she had just noticed around Aelita's leg.

"Don't worry," Aelita responded, "It's nothing serious." For a moment Yumi wanted to argue, but held herself; doing so would just let her worries take over again.

"Let's get you dried off and into some clean clothes."

[*]

Aelita now sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee in her hands; Yumi had suggested hot chocolate, but she had rejected that idea at once, one burnt leg was enough. Yumi had taken her to get herself dried in the bathroom before giving her some of her old clothes to wear. The black shorts and t-shirt were really not Aelita's style, but she had liked the red dressing gown; it was fluffy and kept her warm, she thought that it might be the same one she borrowed when she had previously stayed here.

Yumi bustled about; happy, it seemed, to be taking care of her. The boys, on the other hand, had been very quiet; almost as though they were frightened to speak, in case it would upset her. Aelita did not blame them; she felt very uneasy, unsure whether she might simply break down again or else fly into another rage. She hadn't wanted to be with them, but knew that it must happen; mostly she feared what they might say.

"So, what did happen to your leg?" Said Odd, after several minutes of silence.

"Spilt a hot drink on it… at the hospital." She said simply, not wishing to go into any further detail about what had happened there, but knowing that it was inevitable.

"Delmus said that you were there when it happened." Ulrich said, cautious once again; though he faltered for a moment when Aelita looked at him. She knew what was coming next, even Yumi stopped to listen. "How, exactly, did it happen?"

Aelita wracked her memory; how had it gone? Everything was simply a confused mess to her; images and sounds, she thought it would be crystal clear.

"I… I don't know." She responded, her voice shaking.

"What do you mean?"

"I just… I don't remember…" A mixture of images played out in front of her; screaming machines, the shouts of doctors and the unmistakable sight of Jeremie. She returned her gaze to the floor, afraid of a new wave of tears.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Yumi had interrupted; her arms full of clothes, she was scowling at Ulrich.

"Thanks Yumi." Aelita felt so grateful for her intervention, but she still wanted to escape further questioning, "I'm tired, I think I'll head back to the dorms."

"There's no need. You can stay here, all three of you; my parents say it's okay and I've told the school." Aelita smiled broadly at Yumi now; a simple 'thanks' seemed inadequate.


	10. Chapter 10

Aelita's bed was on the floor in Yumi's room and it was wonderfully comfortable; she sat on it and although she felt tired, she knew that she'd be unable to sleep. She felt the day's events wash over her once more; she had never felt like this before, even when she was little and her mother went away. She wondered if she would ever get over it.

'You can because he is not dead.' The voice in her head was back, but this time it was the old one, not the sinister hiss that had said horrible things. She still didn't like this one though; it told lies, filled her with false hope.

'They are not lies, you just need to listen.' It persisted, but Aelita tried to shut it out. 'You just need to find Jeremie, or you will never forgive yourself.'

"Go away. Just leave me alone." She said back to it, forcefully.

"Are you talking to me?"

Aelita swung round; Yumi was standing in the doorway.

"No, just… It's nothing." Aelita turned her back on Yumi, how could she begin to explain what was happening? To her slight annoyance, Yumi walked forwards and squatted beside her.

"Aelita," she said, her voice full of concern, "is something wrong? If it is, you know you can talk to us, right?"

"It feels like there's a part of me that can't accept what's happened." Aelita said; Yumi nodded knowledgably.

"It's common," she said, "people have a hard time accepting the truth, but you will eventually."

"I know; I just have to accept that Jeremie's gone, he's dead." Aelita hated the sound of the words that she spoke, they made everything too final.

"Aelita," Yumi's voice was soft, "I know how much Jeremie meant to you and how you felt about him-"

"I never got to tell him."

"But I also know that he felt just the same about you too." Yumi finished before getting up and leaving the room.

Aelita was not surprised that Yumi had known how she had felt, nor was she surprised by what Yumi had said about Jeremie; it just seemed right. It didn't matter whether Yumi was right or wrong, it made her feel better; and as Aelita's head hit the pillow, she fell instantly to sleep.

[*]

Aelita walked down a long corridor, which even though it was well lit; she still found it difficult to see in, as though a fog filled it. Doors lined this corridor; solid looking bright blue doors, each having a bronze plaque on which was written a long number. She ignored them as she walked. She didn't know why she was here, only that there was some urgency to her task.

A sudden noise echoed across the walls; like a cry, but too quiet to make out. She quickened her pace and yet more doors passed her.

She heard the noise again and this time she recognised it; it was Jeremie.

"Jeremie?" She called down the infinitely long corridor.

"Aelita?" Came a responding cry and she hurried forwards.

"Jeremie, where are you?" She shouted.

"Aelita!" Jeremie called, the echo making it impossible to make out the direction of the noise.

Aelita tried the doors nearest to her, but they were all locked. She continued to run, stopping every now and then to try another door, but all of them were the same… except one.

The one that caught her attention was bright red and had a much bigger plaque than the others, at the end of the corridor. She started towards it but as she thought she drew closer, the corridor seemed to stretch and she was no closer to the red door.

"AELITA! HELP!"

"Jeremie!" She broke out into an open sprint but still the door danced out of reach. She tripped, falling flat on her face. Jeremie screamed.

[*]

Aelita was breathing heavily, her chest rose and fell rapidly. Something was covering her and she fought to throw it off. She was covered in sweat; it was dark.

After a moment of fighting with the blanket, she eventually managed to push it away from her. Aelita stopped as her mind slowly adjusted to its surroundings. She was back in Yumi's room and the light was off. It was just a nightmare.

This did nothing to settle her; Aelita had had nightmares in the past and those were bad experiences. That time though; it had been Xana trying to lure her to her doom, only Jeremie had spotted them for what they really were and saved her… again. Were these dreams sent by Xana in another one of his plots?

She longed to have someone to talk to about it, but Yumi was still asleep in her bed and the only one who would have really understood was gone. Aelita propped herself up against a wall; whether or not that dream had been sent by Xana, she didn't want another one.


	11. Chapter 11

_That's a bit better, a couple more reviews; ta very much._

* * *

"Aelita?" Yumi called softly into the sleeping girl's ear, "Wake up." She shook the girl gently to rouse her.

Yumi had almost panicked when she had awoken to find Aelita's bed empty and the blanket thrown aside, but it had only been a second before she had spotted the noticeable pink hair peeking out from around Yumi's own teddy. Aelita slept against the wall with her knees drawn right up to her chin. It was an odd position, Yumi had thought, but she had decided to leave Aelita to sleep. Only now, when she had bathed and dressed, did she attempt to wake her.

[*]

Aelita came round slowly; she could feel someone rocking her. As her eyes regained their focus she saw the recognisable shape of Yumi looking down at her.

"What time is it?" Aelita mumbled; speaking seemed to take a great effort.

"About quarter to eight," Yumi responded, "You'll have to be quick if we're going to get to school on time."

Aelita didn't like Yumi's words; how could anything as normal as school take place on a day like this? Aelita wondered if she could face the noise and the other students crowding about, all of them unaware that one of their number would never return.

"The sooner you face it; the less painful it will be." Yumi said, she always seemed to know what Aelita was thinking; and she was always right. "And we'll be with you."

"I guess so," Aelita said, actually smiling, "I don't know what we'd do without you Yumi." Yumi waved away the compliment, but looked flattered all the same.

"Get in the shower. I've cleaned all your clothes; and if you're lucky, Odd may have saved you some breakfast."

[*]

The school was just as bad as Aelita thought it would be; everyone seemed so happy and indifferent to everything, it made Aelita remember the times that she, Jeremie and the others had spent simply lounging around on their favourite bench. It was all so innocent and carefree that it almost overwhelmed her; if it weren't for Yumi's hand on her shoulder, she was sure she would've ran from the place.

"Are you okay?" Ulrich asked, beside her.

"Fine." She responded curtly, but it didn't seem to fool anyone.

"Maybe we should sit down." Suggested Yumi; and Aelita found herself being led to the bench in the middle of the courtyard.

She felt slightly better as she sat and watched the rest of the school go about their usual business before the start of lessons; students chatting the latest gossip, with Milly and Tamia lurking nearby; some only just leaving the cafeteria after a big breakfast; some scribbling down last minute homework assignments, assignments that were probably due in that day. Everything just seemed so normal.

'Jeremie will be coming out of the dorms any minute now.' Aelita thought, but caught herself in the act of turning to look at the dormitory building; it was that voice again, why wouldn't it leave?

'He will come down and explain his latest theory on fighting Xana.' The voice continued and Aelita concentrated all of her effort into suppressing it; she was only dimly aware that Sissi and her two cronies had approached the group.

'No he will not.' She thought back, arguing with that voice inside her own head. She could hear other voices too; those of Sissi, Ulrich and Yumi. She didn't hear the words of what they were saying; they didn't seem important.

'Jeremie cannot be dead, you know this.' The voice was persistent.

'He is; I saw it; Jeremie is not coming back.' Aelita forced herself to argue the point; something within her was beginning to yield to the voice. Odd's voice had joined the discussion with Sissi, which seemed on the verge of becoming a heated argument.

'Aelita please, just listen. Trust me.' The tone of the voice was so soft and warm that Aelita's defences simply seemed to melt. It struck her as being so familiar and yet completely alien; but she wanted to give in to it, it seemed the only way.

"What about you, Mrs. Einstein?" Sissi's hard, mocking tone smashed its way through Aelita's thoughts and brought her back to Earth.

Sissi stood before Aelita, addressing her directly; Herve and Nicolas to one side. Around her, Aelita could just see the others from the corner of her eye; all had looks of immense hatred upon their faces.

"Leave her alone." Odd said, standing up; not that it made much of an impression, as he was shorter than Sissi.

"Protecting your cousin are you?" Mocked the Principle's daughter. "Can't she speak for herself?"

"Just leave, Sissi." Ulrich said, through gritted teeth. He also stood, as did Yumi; the three of them together made a much more intimidating sight, but Sissi stood firm.

"What about Mr. Einstein, isn't he here to protect you as well?" Aelita felt a ripple of anger flow through her as Sissi directly addressed her again, ignoring the others.

"Sissi…" Ulrich growled.

"Maybe he's come down ill; or maybe he dumped you?" Sissi persisted, Aelita felt her fist clench and her pulse quicken. "That's it, he dumped you! He's gone and run off with another girl. But what girl would want to go out with a loser like that? Unless he's finally married his computer-"

SMACK!

Aelita didn't really know what had happened; only that she was now on her feet. Her hand was raised threateningly. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Sissi had taken a step back and a large red mark covered her left cheek. Aelita could feel the rage flowing through her, the same rage that had powered her in making a mess of the lab last night.

"Are you insane!?" Exclaimed Sissi; her expression one of complete shock. "What is wrong with you?"

SMACK!

Aelita had swung her hand back again and Sissi now had a mark on her right cheek to match that on her left; she had stumbled backwards, caught by an astonished Herve and Nicolas.

"How could you?" Aelita shouted, her voice filled by her own anger. "How can you say such things when you don't even know-… you don't know anything." She faltered as the realisation hit her; the anger subsided. She became acutely aware that Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were also wearing looks of complete astonishment; some of the other students had stopped what they were doing to watch the spectacle.

Sissi's eyes had filled with tears and a new feeling crept into Aelita's mind… shame. She couldn't stand it; she had lost control completely and done something bad. The shame of it burned inside her, even the stares of the others seemed to burn her. She had to get out of here.


	12. Chapter 12

It had taken no time at all to find Aelita this time; Yumi had located her in the girls' toilets from the sound of sobbing coming from one of the cubicles. She had been persuaded to come out and was ready to talk as soon as she had dried her tears.

"She deserved it." Aelita said coldly, gazing into the mirror above the sink.

"I guess so," Yumi said, smiling, "I always thought she could do with a good slap."

Aelita laughed, Yumi didn't admit how good it was to hear; to be reminded that Aelita could still be happy.

"Only because she kept trying to steal Ulrich from you." Aelita responded, a sly look in her eye. Yumi felt herself blush, but was determined to avoid the subject.

"That doesn't change the fact that it was wrong, Sissi didn't know about what had happened to Jeremie. If she had, I'm sure that she would've restrained herself."

"Did the whole school think I was going out with Jeremie?" Aelita asked, with a light tone. Yumi sensed that Aelita was avoiding the subject of Sissi.

"Well, most of us." She responded truthfully, "But-"

"Because we weren't. Well, not really. It was sort of… complicated." Aelita seemed determined to go down this path and Yumi realised that it was best not to try and stop her.

"How complicated?" Yumi inquired politely.

"I never really knew how he felt about me. I was just never sure."

"You should've just told him how you felt."

"I know," Aelita's voice was full of sadness; Yumi feared that she might break down into tears again.

"Look, we'd better go. I'm gonna be late for class and the Principle wants to see you."

[*]

Aelita entered the Principle's office, she felt like there was a knot in her stomach; never before could she remember being so nervous.

Inside, she found exactly what she had expected; Delmus gazed at her with a stern look on his face and Sissi stood beside him, the red marks now apparent bruises on her cheeks. Aelita hadn't thought she'd hit Sissi that hard.

"Miss Stones." Delmus said, clearing his throat. Aelita had the odd feeling of being a rabbit in front of an oncoming lorry as she stood in the middle of the room. "It seems that an incident occurred between you and Sissi earlier. Do I need to remind you that violence is absolutely not tolerated on school premises?"

"No sir." Aelita said meekly.

"In normal circumstances, this would warrant the notification of your parents and a period of suspension from the school, do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Aelita was terrified; if Delmus tried to contact Odd's parents, she'd be in serious trouble.

"However, these are not normal circumstances and nothing will be done on this occasion." Aelita could hardly believe what she was hearing; the principle was never this lenient.

"I understand that you were provoked," Delmus continued, "though this alone does not warrant assault on another student, recent events must be taken into account. I feel that it will simply be enough if you two were to apologise to each other."

Sissi walked right up to Aelita; she looked almost tearful, but managed to hold her composure.

"I'm sorry," Sissi said; her voice full of sincerity. "I didn't know about Jeremie."

"It's okay," Aelita responded, "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have gotten so angry; forgive me."

"Thank you." Delmus said, "Sissi, you may go now, but I'd like Aelita to remain."

"Why?" Aelita questioned as Sissi left the room.

"I have some people who want to know what happened in the hospital yesterday."

"But you know," Aelita protested, she still didn't feel ready to talk about it, "the hospital must've told you."

"They want to know your side of it; there are some things that the doctors do not know."

Aelita felt confused, what wouldn't the doctors know? Unless this meant that there was someone who didn't buy the cover story Yumi had invented for them. Delmus pressed a button on the intercom on his desk and a second later the door opened. Two people stepped through it; a man and a woman, they looked oddly familiar.

"Allow me to introduce you." The principle said, rising from his chair, "This is Aelita Stones and these…" he pointed to the couple that had just entered, "…are Mr. and Mrs. Belpois."

[*]

As soon as the Principle had said the name, Aelita knew why they looked familiar. She had seen Jeremie's father once before, he was a kind-hearted man who had seemed very polite and reasonable; qualities which Jeremie shared with him. Aelita had never seen Jeremie's mother before, but she recognised the blonde hair that she had passed down to her son.

The two of them had entered the room with Mr. Belpois holding his wife, whose eyes were fixed upon the floor and her face expressed such sorrow. Aelita felt a stab of guilt; she had not once considered Jeremie's parents, how they must feel at losing their only son.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances." Delmus said, stepping out from behind his desk to offer his hand. Jeremie's father shook it, but did not speak. Instead he helped his wife into a chair and sat next to her.

"Shall we get on with this then?" Delmus questioned, seeming ill-at-ease.

"Yes, of course." Jeremie's father spoke for the first time, diverting his attention from the woman next to him.

"Very well." Delmus sat before addressing Aelita, "Miss Stones, I'd like you to tell us what happened; tell them exactly what you told me, explain to us what happened at the hospital."

The principle was looking intently at Aelita, as were both of the Belpois'. She felt her throat contract, once again she was a rabbit in front of a lorry; the only difference was that there was another coming from the opposite direction. She could barely speak; as she tried her throat merely became tighter.

When she eventually forced out the words, Aelita thought that she might simply tear out her voice box; but it wasn't that bad, she found that once she had begun it was difficult to stop and soon she was explaining everything in detail. She told them exactly how they had found Jeremie in the woods, Yumi's cover story seemed poor but it was also believable; she described how they had carried him back to the school and how she had escorted him to the hospital; she quoted what she could remember the doctors saying to her and how her and the others had been questioned by the Principle.

She spoke through this all easily; but when it reached the point where Jeremie died, she faltered. She couldn't begin to describe what had happened that day; it was still too painful in her own mind. She glanced quickly at the others in the room, hoping for one of them to interject; to take the burden from her. She knew that they wouldn't, they didn't know. It made it so much harder for her to speak about it, to share with them. Jeremie had always been there for her, even when she had asked basic questions about life on Earth… he had never laughed. With Jeremie gone, there was nobody that she could confide in anymore.

"Please; continue." Jeremie's mother spoke this time and her voice had an instant calming effect over Aelita. It was such a soft request. She must continue; for her sake.

Aelita explained how Jeremie had died. She told them that she was in the hospital at the time, but went into very little detail there, and she explained exactly what had happened over those next few minutes; right up to the point where the young doctor had brought her the news. She stared solidly at the floor as she spoke and wouldn't let anything stop her, even as her throat burned and constricted and tears filled her eyes; she kept talking until she had explained it all.

When she had finally finished she could hear Mrs. Belpois' quiet sobs and fought greatly to stop herself from crying.

"Is that all?" Asked Delmus, in the friendliest voice Aelita had ever heard him use.

Aelita simply nodded as she used her sleeve to wipe her eyes.

"Very well, you may go. I think that it will be better for you to return to your normal classes as soon as possible, do you understand?"

Aelita made no remark or gesture as she left the office.


	13. Chapter 13

Science class was proving to be difficult; not that Aelita didn't understand the work, she was just finding it impossible to concentrate upon it or even follow a word that Ms. Hertz said. Her eyelids felt heavy; a result of last night's lack of sleep; and she found herself almost slipping away before being brought back by the clatter of someone's pen. Aelita yawned.

"Didn't get much sleep, huh?" Odd whispered, turning around to face her.

Aelita shook her head, she didn't want to talk; all she wanted was sleep. She was at the desk at the very back of the room, she was certain that she could just take a little nap here and nobody would notice.

"Yumi said that you might've had nightmares last night." Ulrich joined in, keeping his voice at a barely audible level. "Did you?"

Aelita didn't answer; she could tell that they were both concerned for her, but it didn't stop her from being annoyed at them. They had no right to talk about her behind her back.

"No talking!" Mrs. Hertz's stern voice carried over the classroom and, for once, Aelita was glad of it. It stopped the boys from questioning her as they were forced to pay attention to their own work.

Aelita too tried to get back to answering her own question; but failed. She had written all of two words by the time her mind had wandered again. This time it wandered to the empty chair next to her; where Jeremie would always have sat. He would often help her whenever she failed to understand something; before she had recovered her memories. She rested her head on the table and allowed herself to be immersed in her memories of Jeremie.

[*]

Aelita was back in the long dark corridor of doors, except this time she knew exactly where she was going. She set off at a sprint towards the red door at the end as the cries began again.

"Aelita!" Jeremie's voice echoed from the walls.

"It's okay Jeremie; I'm coming to help you!" She shouted back, hoping that wherever he was he could hear her.

"No! Go back!" Came Jeremie's response; Aelita was taken aback, but kept running all the same.

"I have to help you!"

"No! It's the wrong way! You've got to go to-" Jeremie screamed with pain, cutting himself off in mid sentence. Aelita panicked.

"Jeremie!" She cried and went flat out, as fast as she could run. To her elation, the red door moved closer.

"GO BACK!" Jeremie shouted again, but Aelita ignored it as the red door approached. It was much bigger than the others and its plaque held a very familiar symbol… Xana.

Aelita froze for a moment as she saw it; she didn't know what it meant. The warning, the symbol; could this be a trap?

Jeremie screamed once more and Aelita made up her mind; she didn't care, she had to do something. Ignoring something in the back of her mind that screamed at her to leave it, she grabbed the door handle… it was locked. Determined not to be beaten so easily she bashed the door with the shoulder, it shook but stayed firm. She walked down the corridor before sprinting back, throwing all of her weight at the door.

The door smashed open so suddenly that Aelita rolled into the room beyond.

"Aelita!?" Jeremie shouted in surprise as Aelita sprung to her feet; the entire room she was in was black.

"Jeremie!" She exclaimed as she saw him; he had been badly beaten, bruises covered his face and his glasses were missing. He was lying on the floor not far from her; she started towards him.

The moment she did so, several electric blue tentacle-like shapes swept out from the black. They had grabbed hold of Jeremie in an instant. She darted towards them, but they had already begun dragging him away.

"Jeremie!" She screamed and dived to the floor; taking hold of Jeremie's outstretched hand. The tentacles pulled hard and Aelita felt her grip begin to slip.

"Aelita." Said Jeremie, his voice suddenly calm and soothing. "This isn't the way. Please just listen; I'm going to help you."

"What do you mean?" Aelita felt suddenly confused and Jeremie's hand slipped further.

"You'll see."

Jeremie's hand finally slipped away from hers and he was whisked away into the black.

"JEREMIE! NO!" Aelita just had time to scream before the electric blue tentacles came back and went straight for her.

[*]

Everything was dark. She was still lying on the floor and she could feel hands trying to take hold of her. She screamed and tried to bat them away. There were other noises too; other voices.

Her eyes snapped open. She was lying on the floor of the science lab; Ulrich and Odd were kneeling over her, trying to grab hold of her flailing arms. The rest of the class seemed to be standing around her, whispering and muttering.


	14. Chapter 14

"What happened?" Aelita asked, relieved to be away from the stares of her classmates.

"Well, we were just sitting there working when you started making noises." Ulrich responded, sitting on the bench next to her.

"What kind of noises?"

"Well… just quiet whines and moans." Ulrich spoke slowly; carefully.

"It didn't stay quiet for long." Interjected Odd, "Ms. Hertz noticed as soon as you started screaming." There was a slight smirk on his face and Aelita knew why; her disruption to the class meant that he had an extra day to revise for their test.

"And then I fell off my chair?" Aelita questioned, trying to discover how bad it had been.

"That's right." Ulrich said, "You were just screaming and shouting 'Jeremie'. We tried to wake you up, but you just swung out." He gave a hollow sort of laugh, "Now I know how Sissi felt when you slapped her."

The cool, refreshing wind blew around her as Aelita considered the situation. She felt much better now that she was outside, where everything seemed calm and normal. She had had quite a bad experience, although she wouldn't be surprised if most of the class thought she was insane; she voiced this fear to the others.

"Don't worry about it," Odd said simply, "you know you're sane."

"You've been through a lot-" Ulrich offered his own words of advice, "Well, we all have… but none of us have suffered as much as you. You've just got to keep your wits about you, keep your cool and you'll get through it."

Aelita thought about it; these nightmares, the constantly resurfacing voice inside her head… what if she was losing her sanity? She forced herself to calm down and think logically. She remembered what she had felt as she woke up from that dream; something so familiar and yet so alien… exactly how she had felt the last time she heard the voice.

"What if they're not really nightmares?" She said, feeling her own voice shake. She noticed Odd and Ulrich exchanging puzzled looks. "What if they're like those visions I had about my father, the ones that Xana sent me?" Ulrich sighed at this and exchanged another glance with Odd.

"Aelita." He began, placing his hand on her shoulder; something which irritated her considerably. "They can't be anything other than dreams; remember that your connection thingy with the supercomputer was broken when you got your memories back. How could Xana still be sending you visions?" She felt angry; he was talking down to her, as though she were a little child.

"I… don't know." Aelita admitted; it was technically impossible. "But they feel so real, they feel just like the visions did." She was trying you persuade herself that it was possible.

"Dreams can be very real sometimes." Ulrich said, patronisingly. Aelita pushed his hand away and stood up; she took a few steps, she didn't want to look at them, they didn't understand.

"Why don't you tell us what the dream was about?" Ulrich returned to his friendly, concerned voice. Aelita turned to look at him; she couldn't be angry, he was just trying to help.

"Well…" She began, but found it hard to continue, "They…" She couldn't do it, she couldn't even begin to explain, "I… I'd…"

"You'd rather not talk about it?" Butted in Odd; unable to keep a huge grin off his face.

Aelita simply nodded, but it made her smile. Ulrich seemed happy with this and gave Odd a subtle 'thumbs up' before getting to his feet.

"We'd better go," he said, "Ms. Hertz only gave Aelita permission to be out of class; she'll go mad if we skip the rest of the lesson." Odd straightened up too, he had been leaning on the back of the bench. "Make sure you get some rest." Ulrich said before he and Odd started a lazy walk back to the classrooms.

"Of course I will." Aelita said, giving a small wave as they left. She smiled broadly; she had no intention of getting any rest.

[*]

Aelita walked slowly up the dormitory stairs, she wondered if it had been long enough. She had only gone up here to make the others think she was returning to her room, she planned to give them enough time to dawdle back to class before she slipped out again.

'"Please just listen, I'm going to help you."' Jeremie's words came back to her, repeating themselves over in her head. But how could he help her?

"No!" She told herself sternly, speaking out loud to suppress her own thoughts. "They're just dreams, a collection of images from the subconscious mind during sleep; it's not real."

She had kept reassuring herself of this one fact; she had to make sure it was secure in her mind. They couldn't be anything but dreams, her connection to the supercomputer no longer existed… She was stuck on that fact; if it wasn't via a link to the supercomputer, then it had to be through some other means.

"No!" She almost shouted this time, but stopped herself; the dormitories seemed empty enough, but it was impossible to be sure. She had to stop trying to find ways to validate that theory; it was impossible and she knew it, she just had to block out those thoughts.

'Maybe you should be listening.' The voice was back. It spoke in its usual calm tone; but Aelita wasn't fooled, it still lied.

'Just leave.' She thought back at it; if someone saw her muttering to herself she'd be carted off to an institution. 'You are not real. I will not listen to you.'

'Please just listen, I am going to help you.'

'No, you are not. You just make things worse, giving me false hope.' Aelita thought as forcefully as she could. How did it dare use those words, after what it had said about Jeremie?

She stumbled. The conversation inside her own head was interrupted as she struggled to stay upright; she just managed it by grabbing hold of the banister. Straightening herself, she saw what had made her trip. She had reached the top of the stairs; her foot, expecting to find another step, had met with nothing but air and it had thrown her off balance.

She had reached the middle floor of the three storey building; the boy's dormitories. She expected that she had given enough time for Odd and Ulrich to make it back to class; but instead of going down the stairs, her feet took her through the double doors and onto the boy's corridor. Acutely aware that it would look bad if she were caught here, she made her way down the corridor; she went past Odd and Ulrich's room and continued until she reached one which she had visited many times before, often in the middle of the night.

[*]

Jeremie's door was unlocked and it swung open quietly. Like much of the school, it looked completely normal; nothing had moved since she had last been here, two days seemed like an extremely long time. Aelita wasn't sure what she had expected; but she felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably, tying a knot in itself. She closed the door behind her and felt a lot more at home, Jeremie's room always seemed like such a friendly place. Stacks of folders and computer magazines talking about everything from cleaning out a mouse all the way to quantum processors; 'the computer of the future' one title boasted; all of them were so familiar to Aelita. She and Jeremie had spent long hours in this room working on various projects from schoolwork to the latest plans for beating Xana; even before she was materialised, they would while away the hours simply talking at length about the real world; or else work together on her materialisation program.

The room brought back so many happy memories to her that for a long time she simply stood and let them wash over her. One particularly poignant memory was before she was materialised when she had asked Jeremie where babies came from; it seemed hilarious now, but Jeremie had gone the brightest shade of red she had ever seen before suggesting several reading references. Aelita couldn't help but laugh at it now, it was when everything seemed so innocent.

She took another look around the room as her memories faded and noticed something rather unusual poking out from under Jeremie's bed; a large brown envelope. She picked it up carefully; it was bulky and rather heavy. On the side where the address would go was simply written 'Aelita'.

She opened it slowly, though it was not sealed she still felt rather uncertain about looking at something which belonged to Jeremie. Then again, she reasoned, it was addressed to her. She sat down on the bed and pulled its contents out onto her lap, there were quite a few objects; the first was a handwritten letter, upon examination it appeared to be the transcript of Jeremie's emergency program message; the last part was missing from this as well, obscured by heavy scribbling in black ink. Underneath the transcript was a heavy book, this had to account for most of the weight of the parcel; the book was titled 'Aelita's Materialisation Log' and it contained detailed descriptions of the program, the problems they had faced and the various disastrous attempts at materialising her. Halfway through the log she found a page upon which was secured a single strand of pink hair and an excited note beneath it 'A real hair!' Aelita couldn't help but smile; she had been equally excited as Jeremie at the prospect of the program working and, though she couldn't remember the rest of that day, was equally disappointed to hear of the failure. The last object was another thick book, but this one had no title. When Aelita opened it she found no words, only pictures. The first was a copy of Odd's sketch drawing of the entire group that Jeremie had received for his birthday; the next page held the photos taken in a photo booth of Jeremie and herself on her first day with him. She felt a tear run down her face, but didn't wipe it away as she looked through all of the pictures of them being so happy.

A small cough startled her and the books fell to the floor. To her right she saw Jeremie's father standing in the doorway, she had been so immersed in the pictures that she hadn't even noticed the door opening.

"I'm sorry," Said Mr. Belpois apologetically as Aelita scrambled to retrieve the books, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay." Aelita responded, taking advantage of the fact that she wasn't facing him and using the moment to wipe her eyes. She slid the books back into the envelope before standing to face him. "I shouldn't really be here anyway, Mr. Belpois." She said it as politely as she could.

"Don't worry," he smiled warmly as he spoke, "I won't tell anyone; and you can call me Michael."

"Thanks," His smile was just like Jeremie's. "But why are you here?" The smile faded from Michael's face.

"I'm here to collect Jeremie's belongings."

"Oh," Aelita suddenly became aware of the parcel she was holding, "Do you mind if I keep this?" She asked holding out the parcel for his inspection.

"Sure." He said, taking only a fleeting glance at it.

"Thanks." This was followed by a long and awkward pause; Aelita would've simply left if it weren't for the fact that Michael was still in the doorway.

"It's terrible isn't it?" He said eventually, Aelita was momentarily confused. "Losing him like this and not even knowing what happened. I guess we're lucky that you found him when you did." Aelita suddenly felt herself fill with guilt; Jeremie's parents had lost their son and they didn't even know why, worse still, they didn't even know what Jeremie had really been like.

"It's a lie." She burst out, before any part of her mind could hold the words back.

"What?"

"Finding Jeremie in the forest and all that; it's just a cover story." It was too late to go back now, so she continued. "I want to tell you- I want to show you, if you'll come with me… I want you to know exactly how Jeremie died."


	15. Chapter 15

Aelita watched as Jeremie's father examined the computer equipment in the lab; someone had been in to clean away the debris of Aelita's anger, it must have been one of the others, but which one?

"So this is the supercomputer?" Asked Michael; a confused look on his face. Aelita had done her best to explain everything to him, but she wasn't sure exactly how much had sunk in.

"No, the actual supercomputer is two floors below." Aelita explained; careful not to sound patronising, even if it was the third time she had said it. "This is just a station through which we access the supercomputer."

"Okay; and you're not really real?" Michael spoke slowly; disbelievingly.

"I am." Aelita sighed; explaining this was harder than she had thought it would be. Jeremie didn't get his intelligence from his father; that much she was sure of. "I'm Aelita Hopper. I got trapped in the supercomputer twelve years ago; I lost my memory. When Jeremie found me, I didn't remember anything; we thought I was just an AI, until a month ago when I managed to recover all the memories of my real life."

"The ones this 'Xana' thing took from you?" He was finally beginning to understand.

"Yes."

There was a long pause as Michael stood inspecting the holosphere; it currently showed all of Lyoko, well as much as was left. Last week Xana had succeeded in destroying the forest sector; Aelita had been saddened by its loss, it was her favourite sector. Lyoko had a strangely lopsided look without it; and every time she went there, Aelita could feel its absence.

"This Xana," Michael began, still looking at the rotating map of the lopsided Lyoko. "What does it want?"

"To destroy everything." Aelita answered solemnly, "Xana won't be happy until it's the only thing left; that's why we have to fight it."

"And your father created this thing!?" Michael remarked incredulously; turning around to face her. Aelita felt a familiar stab of guilt; she felt it whenever she thought about her father and no matter how much she wanted to find him, she couldn't escape from the fact that all of this had started because of him.

"Why?" Michael demanded; almost shouting, but he gave Aelita not time to respond. "He created a monster that could destroy the world and then left it in the hands of children!?" He was actually shouting now; Aelita could see the frustration and the anger inside him bursting free. "Why didn't you just shut it down or report it to the authorities? Why did you have to try to be the heroes? You've gambled with people's lives for over a year and only when somebody actually dies do you reconsider. Was it worth it?"

Aelita couldn't bear to look at him. She stared at her own feet; her vision blurred by tears which streamed down her cheeks. The questions that Michael had asked were ones that she had repeatedly asked herself. He was right. For all this time they had risked other people's lives, often only just scraping through; and then laughed about it afterwards. They had never seriously considered what would happen if they actually failed, what effect it would have. She wondered if her own father had thought about the consequences of giving Xana so much power; he had lost. Bitterness rose up inside her at the thought of him; if it wasn't for him none of this would've happened. Sure, she wouldn't have met Jeremie; but at least he'd still be alive.

Michael had stopped shouting and walked over; he placed a comforting hand on Aelita's shoulder. Even though he didn't speak, Aelita knew he wanted to apologise; Jeremie did the same thing sometimes.

"Jeremie insisted that the computer stay on until I were materialised." Aelita spoke slowly, wiping her face with her sleeve. She felt Michael's grip on her shoulder tighten. "But I'm not blaming him," She added quickly, "because I wanted it just as much as he did." Michael released the grip on her shoulder and stalked away; he stood looking at the holosphere again. "It's thanks to Jeremie that I'm here, he did everything to help me live again; without him, Xana would've won. The danger was worth it, just to meet him; but nothing is worth living without him."

Aelita stopped as a fresh wave of tears threatened to emerge. Michael turned around to look at her once more; but now there was that familiar kind expression on his face.

"You really liked Jeremie, didn't you?" He said. Aelita could only nod in response as she wiped away the last tears onto her already saturated sleeve.

[*]

It felt strange to sit in what was, for all intents and purposes, Jeremie's chair; but it also felt comfortably warm to Aelita as she showed Michael the programs on which she and Jeremie had spent many hours. Michael was not as smart as Jeremie was, but he seemed to understand most of the things she explained to him. She had showed him how people were virtualised and the forms that they took on Lyoko; although she explained that Jeremie had never really been there and so had no defined appearance. It had taken some time to explain and it was midday when the lab doors hissed and slid open.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Odd said, marching into the room with the others; all three held surprised looks upon their faces, which quickly changed to scowls at the sight of Jeremie's father.

"Odd, it's okay." Aelita tried to sound calm, "This is Jeremie's father." The surprised looks returned.

"But what's he doing here?" Ulrich asked, clearly unsure how he should be responding to the man's presence.

"I showed him here." The others gave her disbelieving stares.

"But; we don't just let people into the factory!" Anger was evident in Ulrich's voice.

"Jeremie's parents have a right to know what really happened." Aelita said defensively.

"And what if he goes running to the authorities?" Odd cut in, "Then we'll really be in trouble."

"Trouble!?" Aelita exclaimed; and she found that she raised her voice. "How could things possibly get worse than they are now?"

"Just wait until the police find out you're not really Odd's cousin," Ulrich started, his own voice raised, "and wait till they see how we created your false identity; then you'll see how much worse things can get!"

"Quiet!" Michael's shout cut across Aelita's retort. They were all so surprised by this sudden outburst that they were instantly silent. He waited for a moment before continuing in a very calm tone. "Look I'm not going to go to the police, I promise." This seemed to be good enough for Ulrich and Odd. "Right, can we all get along? I still don't know who you three are."

The others introduced themselves to Jeremie's father and quickly got into discussions about the factory and Xana. Aelita stayed in the chair and turned slightly away from them, she didn't want to participate; there was something in the back of her mind that was laughing quietly.

'All of this going on and they are still worried about a stranger in the factory.' The voice said, still laughing quietly to itself. Aelita tried to shut it out, but she couldn't; she wanted to listen.

'Why will you not leave?' She thought back at it, desperate to understand it.

'Only when you listen.' It responded.

'Why should I? You are just a voice in my mind.'

'You do not accept that Jeremie is dead.' It stated simply and Aelita knew it was right; she couldn't hide it. She'd give anything to see Jeremie again; but she had to fight this voice.

'Yumi says that you will go away if I do.' She argued back.

'It is not the first time Yumi has been wrong. Just listen to me; I am trying to help you.'

'Oh really?'

'Yes.' The voice changed, 'Please just listen, I am going to help you.' It said; but now Aelita recognised it, she had heard it many times before. That voice was warm; it was hope; it was happiness… it was Jeremie.

Aelita surrendered. She gave in trying to block the voice; now she wanted to hear it speak, more than ever. 'I am listening.' She told it, 'Tell me.'

'No.' The voice said; for the first time it actually sounded happy. 'I will show you.'

Pain flooded suddenly into Aelita's head; she held it in both hands, it felt as though her skull might simply explode. Another shot of pain hit her and she screamed; she was just aware of Yumi's frightened shout. Colours burst before her, filling her sight. She was dimly aware of slipping from the chair before everything went white.

[*]

Everything was still white, but the pain in her head was gone. Aelita hoped that her eyesight would clear soon.

"Aelita?" Jeremie's voice called from the white; it sounded nearby. Aelita wished she could see. She reached out a hand, but felt nothing. Wait; she could see her hand. She wasn't blind after all; it was just that everything around her seemed to be white; like a mist.

"Aelita?" Jeremie called again; he was very close now. Aelita span round and screamed.

Jeremie was standing before her and he looked in a terrible state. He looked as he had done in her last dream, but he bore several new cuts and bruises on his arms and legs.

"Jeremie." Aelita said, her voice sounding strange in the mist. "What happened to you?"

Jeremie didn't say anything, he just extended his hand. Aelita was slightly puzzled but took it; the moment she did so, she knew something was wrong. Her hand had made contact with his, she could see that; she could see how she held it and turned it over, but she didn't feel anything. She looked up at Jeremie's bruised face again, he was smiling.

"Just sight and sound." He said, still smiling. "You can't feel anything."

"No." Aelita spoke slowly; if there was no feeling, then what about all of Jeremie's injuries? "What about you? Can you feel?" She asked tentatively.

"That's not important." Jeremie responded, but the smile had gone from his face. "What is important is that you understand."

"What do I need to understand?"

"We've been here before." He said, indicating the mist. "Now do you understand?"

Aelita thought for a moment before it came to her. Yes; she did understand, she understood everything Jeremie was trying to tell her. She smiled at him and he beamed back before everything went white once more.


	16. Chapter 16

"Aelita? Aelita?" Yumi's voice called her from far away; but she didn't respond. Aelita felt so comfortable in the white; it made her feel the warmth in her stomach and the ache in her heart that she associated with Jeremie. She wanted to lie there; immersed in the warmth, never to be without it again.

"Aelita?" Yumi was shouting now; or maybe she was getting nearer. "Wake up!" She was definitely nearer; Aelita could feel Yumi's hands shaking her, she opened her eyes.

At first she could see nothing, only white; but soon the white began to clear and colours became visible. These colours wobbled around so fast that they became blurs. Even then they didn't stay still, as the blurs resolved themselves into shapes; and the shapes became people. The nearest blurred shape became Yumi; kneeling over her; the other three shapes stood around Aelita and formed themselves into Odd, Ulrich and Michael. The rest of the colours became the lab around her; and Aelita once again found herself lying upon the floor with concerned faces watching over her.

"Aelita!" Yumi gasped; relief evident in her voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm okay." Aelita responded. She started to push herself up and Yumi helped; grabbing hold of her arm, Yumi helped Aelita struggle to her feet.

"What happened?" Ulrich asked; he looked a little pale. "You were just sitting there; then you scream and faint. We were worried."

Having managed to make it to her feet, Aelita felt suddenly light-headed. She took hold of Yumi; gripping her arm tightly, to stop herself from falling again. She tried to answer Ulrich's question, but the light-headedness was making it difficult; she couldn't get the words in the right order. She shook her head to try and clear it; but it didn't help, and now she was dizzy as well.

"Is that… that think… I that… Jeremie." She babbled incoherently; if only her head would clear, she could get everything in the right order. Yumi pulled Aelita forwards and her feet moved sloppily into action; she stumbled, but was caught. Yumi guided Aelita gently to the chair and Aelita sat; everything seemed to clear quickly, she could now think straight.

"I think that Jeremie is still alive." She announced to the others; speaking slowly to ensure that the words found their correct places. Their reactions were exactly as she had thought; confused and concerned, they probably thought Aelita had gone completely mad.

"Aelita." Ulrich began, speaking with careful patience, "Jeremie's dead. You saw it happen yourself, you know it's true."

"I know we all wish he weren't," Odd stepped in, "But he is; and he's never coming back." Aelita was afraid of this; they thought that she just couldn't accept it.

"But he is alive." Aelita pleaded, "I know he is. Jeremie can't have died; it doesn't make sense."

"What makes you think he is alive?" Michael asked; his voice level and reasonable. Aelita was glad to have someone like him here.

"It's those visions I keep having." Aelita told them, "They're sent to tell me that Jeremie's alive; I know it." Odd rolled his eyes before sharing a sceptical look with Ulrich; Aelita felt a ripple of anger, how can they dismiss her so easily?

"Look Aelita, we've discussed this." Ulrich said, the patience gone from his voice, "There is no way that they are anything but dreams; you don't have a connection to the supercomputer anymore."

"What if it was remade somehow?" The argument was weak; and Aelita knew it; but she still spoke forcefully, determined to make them understand.

"Oh." Odd said sarcastically, rolling his eyes again. "So Xana made a new connection to you just so he could share all of his secret plans? How convenient."

Aelita felt anger and frustration boil up inside her; it was bad enough that they didn't believe her, but they didn't have to mock her as well. She did her best to keep her voice calm; losing her cool now was the worst way to make them believe her.

"What does it matter how it happened? It's happened." She said, determined to get to points that she could explain better. "What matters is that Jeremie's alive and he's trying to tell me so."

"Jeremie's trying to tell you so?" Yumi joined the conversation, sounding almost as disbelieving as Odd. "What if it's Xana? What if Xana's trying to lure you into a trap to destroy Lyoko? Did you ever think of that? He did it before and you fell right into it."

Yumi was right; Xana had used memories from Aelita's past in an attempt to lure her to Lyoko to steal the key. It was thanks to Jeremie that she got out alive; he had seen through Xana's plot and saved her in time. But this time it wasn't Xana; Aelita was certain… or was she?

"What if it's a trap this time?" Yumi continued, "Are you just going to fall blindly into it again and let Lyoko be destroyed and you along with it? You know that's the last thing Jeremie would want." Aelita flinched; Yumi was trying to use Jeremie against her. "Are you going to risk everything over just a couple of dreams?"

"It's not just the visions!" Aelita objected. "I can hear Jeremie's voice inside my head; ever since I left the hospital, he's been trying to tell me that he's still alive."

"You've been hearing voices inside your head!?" Odd exclaimed before exchanging incredulous looks with Yumi and Ulrich. Aelita knew exactly what they were thinking.

"I'M NOT CRAZY!" She screamed, jumping from the chair; all of her frustration and anger at them was let loose. "You don't know what it's been like! You don't know what I've been through! All this time I've been trying to have some hope; I thought you might understand, but you won't; you just answer everything with questions." Aelita was breathing heavily; she didn't care what she was saying, all she wanted was to shout the anger away. "None of you tried to understand…" Her voice subsided, "…not like Jeremie would. He'd understand and he'd help." She felt tears well up in her eyes and she turned quickly away from the others; she didn't want them to see her crying.

"Aelita." Yumi was the first to speak after a long silence; her voice was quiet and comforting. "How can we help? What do you want us to do?" Aelita turned to see that there were tears in Yumi's eyes as well.

"Just give me a chance to show you that I'm right."

[*]

Aelita punched away at the computer keyboard; she had not done this very often, but she knew exactly how to do it. It was one of the advantages of having lived inside the machine for so long. The others had agreed to check out Lyoko with her; to see if they could find any trace of anyone alive. It had taken some effort to convince them that she should come along too, but Aelita had managed it in the end. They were concerned about the possibility of a trap; a concern that Aelita shared, but she had instructed Michael in how to re-materialise them; that should be enough, she reasoned. Aelita hit the last few keys; she was not quite as good as Jeremie, but the program was ready.

"Okay Princess, we're ready." Odd's voice came through the headset.

"Alright then." She said to herself; before hitting the enter key. "Transfer Odd; transfer Yumi; transfer Ulrich." Three windows popped up to indicate the presence of her three friends in the scanners, "Scanner Odd; Scanner Yumi; Scanner Ulrich." The windows flashed as three virtual forms filled and everything was loaded, "Virtualisation." Aelita watched in satisfaction as three green triangles appeared on the 3D map; everything had gone perfectly.

"Everything's clear Aelita." Yumi said; her voice coming through the headset, like Odd's. "It's your turn now."

Aelita punched in the codes for a self-materialisation program before heading down to the scanners. Excitement filled her; excitement at the prospect of seeing Jeremie again, it was almost too good to be true. There was something else; something gnawing in the pit of her stomach, causing it to tighten uncomfortably. Fear; Aelita had no idea what she would find on Lyoko, or if she would find anything at all. She wasn't sure what scared her the most; the prospect of being caught in a trap; or the idea that she might've been wrong all along.

She stepped into the scanner nervously; she couldn't remember ever being this frightened about a transfer before, but she had to stay calm. On Lyoko, she would need her wits about her. The scanner doors closed, sealing her in.

"I'm on my way, Jeremie."


	17. Chapter 17

The virtualisation was nothing special; despite Aelita's fears. She hit the ground behind the other three, who waited patiently for her. She stood up slowly; the ice sector reminded her of the mist in which she had seen Jeremie, both had a dazzling whiteness.

"So?" Ulrich said; and Aelita knew what he was asking. She could feel Lyoko like she always could; there was nothing abnormal about it, except the missing forest sector. She concentrated hard; attempting to feel for even the slightest anomaly, but it was difficult. Her concentration wavered as negative thoughts flew into her mind; suspicions, fears. She pushed them aside to search further, but they only returned as her efforts proved fruitless. There was nothing there.

The others simply stood with raised eyebrows; awaiting her response, she couldn't tell them. She didn't want to see the knowing look in their eyes, or hear more patronising statements as they would try to cheer her. The fears returned; she didn't want to believe that she might've led them into a trap. She shouldn't have let them risk it, it was a stupid idea. She was already responsible for one death; she didn't want three more on her conscience. What scared her most; was that her last piece of hope was melting away. Aelita refused to let it happen; she couldn't- she wouldn't, lose hope now.

"Nothing yet." She told the others; their looks were almost exactly as she had feared. "But we should take a look around first."

They agreed and followed her as she walked slowly around the sector; everything looked normal and her repeated checks to see if she felt anything different simply drew more blanks. She had been so sure that Jeremie was around here somewhere; it didn't make sense, she was certain that she should've felt something by now. How could Lyoko seem so empty and desolate? Even though the others were with her, she had never felt lonelier.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Odd asked; after they had spent some time walking over several plateaus. Aelita didn't answer at first; even she wasn't sure what she was looking for, she thought that Jeremie might've left her something to follow.

"Anything unusual." She responded; it was the best she could do.

"Here's something unusual." He exclaimed, snidely. "We've been walking around the ice sector for half an hour and what have we seen? Absolutely nothing. Xana hasn't even sent out a single monster; not one Kankrelaut! We've just been wandering around waiting for you to hear voices in your head; and I'm getting hungry!"

"How can you be hungry?" Questioned Ulrich, "We only had lunch an hour ago."

Odd couldn't be hungry, hunger didn't exist on Lyoko; but Aelita didn't care about that, she was alerted by the other thing Odd had said. Normally; if they were all snooping around Lyoko; Xana would send something to try and stop them, even if he didn't know what they were doing. Why would Xana be keeping so quiet now?

The answer came to her; Xana was only quiet when he had something to hide. If he didn't want them looking around then he'd wait until they got bored and left; Xana would only act if he were about to be revealed. She shared this idea with the others and was faced with the sceptical looks that she expected.

"If Xana's hiding something; how are we going to find it?" Ulrich asked.

"We're going to stir things up." Aelita answered; a plan half-formed in her mind. "We're going to make Xana think we're onto him; if he's got something to hide, then he'll react."

"Okay; what's the plan?"

[*]

Aelita moved the data around quickly; the passage tower interface told her everything that she needed to know. She wasn't as good at using the computer in the lab as Jeremie was, but he couldn't beat her speed when she accessed the interfaces on Lyoko directly. She knew it had something to do with her connection to the virtual world; but she could assimilate data from the interface much faster than she, or any normal human, could on Earth.

She knew that she couldn't access Xana's own data from here; but she could modify the group's data, which should be perfect for the plan. The coding was completed; if this was correct, then Xana should think that Odd and Ulrich had just been re-materialised.

Aelita left the tower quickly; Xana might not be able to detect Odd or Ulrich, but they weren't invisible and she wasn't sure how long it would take before he realised. She met up with Yumi outside the tower and they both sprinted towards the edge of the sector.

"So, why exactly did we do that again?" Yumi asked.

"If Xana sees that Ulrich and Odd have left but we're still here; he'll think we're up to something." Aelita answered; everything seemed simple in her head, but she wondered how well she had communicated her plan with the others.

"But we are." Yumi looked puzzled. "So how does that help us?"

"If Xana's as paranoid as I think he is then he'll assume that we're onto him."

"So; if he's got something to hide, he'll pull out all the stops against us?" Yumi spoke slowly as she thought it through.

"Precisely." Aelita smiled; doing something active had cheered her up immensely "And then we will know that Xana's up to something."

"It's nice to see you smile." Yumi said quietly, "It's nice to think that you can be happy again."

"No." Aelita dropped the smile; she wanted the others to understand how serious this was. "I'll only really be happy once Jeremie's back."

"So," Yumi sighed, "you still think he's here somewhere?"

"Yes." Aelita responded blandly, how could they expect her to change her mind so quickly? She shook the thought away; they'd see how wrong they were, but first she had to concentrate on the plan. "Michael?" She called to the sky; slightly uncomfortably, it felt strange to call an adult by their first name.

"I'm here." Jeremie's father responded; sounding slightly uncomfortable himself. "How are things going?"

"Everything's fine. Are Odd and Ulrich-"

"They tell me that they're in place; but I can't see them on the screens."

"That's fine; if you can't see them, Xana can't." Good news for once; the plan actually looked like it might work. "We're approaching the edge of the sector; get ready to punch in the code like I told you, but wait for my signal."

Aelita quickened her pace and Yumi fell behind slightly; the edge that they needed to reach should be just around the next boulder, she sprinted round it-

Aelita cried out as a sledgehammer blow hit her square in the chest and she was thrown back. The world span. Vague blurs flicked before her eyes. Aelita could feel herself tumbling; hitting the ground repeatedly as she rolled. She flung out her arms and stopped the world; but still fell flat on her face.

"Aelita; are you okay?" Yumi shouted; she was no longer nearby. Aelita could hear laser blasts; impacts; the sound of one of Yumi's fans in a deadly arc through the air; she had to move.

Aelita jumped to her feet and saw what was attacking them; Krabs, there must have been at least six, maybe more. She didn't stick around to count; those monsters were putting down a lot of fire and it was thanks only to Yumi that Aelita hadn't been hit a second time. She made to jump behind to boulder but was caught by an intense pain; she tripped and fell. As the monsters prepared to fire another volley; Aelita found herself unable to move.

Yumi moved in a flash. Dropping her defence, she came down on Aelita and pulled at her arm. She dragged Aelita behind the rock just before the barrage of lasers hit the ground where Aelita had been lying.

"I guess Xana fell for it then." Yumi said; smiling. She then called up to the sky, "Michael, we need help; get Odd and Ulrich over here."

Aelita didn't feel as optimistic as Yumi; pain flared in her chest where the laser had impacted. For someone to feel real pain on Lyoko could only mean one thing; the scanners had been sabotaged.

"I'm sorry girls." Michael's voice came from the sky. "The boys say that they're under attack by… Tarantulas?"

"What!?" Yumi turned back to Aelita, "I thought you said that Xana couldn't detect them."

"Xana must've known somehow." Aelita said weakly; the pain made it difficult to talk. "But that's not all Yumi. Xana's sabotaged the scanners again; we can't be de-virtualised." Yumi's expression became stony; they had gone into this plan expecting to trap Xana, but had found themselves falling into one of Xana's traps.

"Great. We've walked straight into a trap." Yumi spoke glumly as laser fired pelted the rock beside them. "But how did he know; unless he heard us talking?"

"Impossible; Jeremie and I made a program to stop Xana from listening in if we were talking to the lab. Only if Xana were sitting there listening could he-"

"And he hasn't hacked this program?" Yumi raised an eyebrow.

"No. We put the best encryption on it; passwords and everything. Only Jeremie and I know them-" Aelita stopped as the realisation hit her… if Jeremie was still alive.

"Xana's got Jeremie." She said suddenly.

"What!?"

"I don't know how, but I'm sure it's true; it's the only way that everything fits." Aelita spoke quickly; she knew it had to be true. Jeremie was sending her those messages, not Xana. The only reason that they were intermittent and that she couldn't contact him now must be that Xana was stopping him. It would explain Jeremie's beaten appearance in the dreams; Xana was forcing information out of him; that was how he hacked into their communications and knew where Odd and Ulrich would be. Jeremie had been captured by Xana.

The thought filled Aelita with both excitement and horror; if Jeremie had been captured then it meant that he was still alive. However; if Jeremie was being held like Aelita's father then it would be almost impossible to find him, it could take a very long time. Time during which Xana could attack freely; during which Jeremie was being tortured. She couldn't bare the thought; it was horrifying.

"Aelita." Yumi spoke up, "It's a great theory and all but we've got to focus on getting out of here." Aelita looked up at her friend.

"But if I'm right; we've got to help Jeremie." She pleaded.

"You can't help Jeremie if you're dead!" Yumi shouted; flinging a screaming fan around the boulder. "Just listen, I'm trying to help!"

Those words stirred something within Aelita; Yumi and the others all had her best interests at heart and they were determined to see her safe. Aelita had thanked them by leading them into this situation; asking them to risk their lives just so she could prove them wrong.

"Right, let's go." Aelita said, forcing herself to her feet. They were going to get out of this, they had to; and then they were going to save Jeremie.


	18. Chapter 18

Ulrich deflected three more lasers; his sabre glowed slightly with each hit. Beside him, Odd fired his arrows; they buried themselves into one of the tarantulas and it blew apart. There were only five more to deal with now.

Odd was blasted backwards as a fresh torrent of lasers was sent their way. Ulrich only just managed to evade them; diving to the floor felt foolish, he wouldn't be able to use his own weapon effectively from here. They wouldn't last much longer out here; they had no cover, Ulrich only hoped that the girls were fairing better.

"Odd." He called, the noise of so many lasers made if difficult to hear his own voice. "Odd; if you cover me, I can take some of them out."

Odd didn't respond. Ulrich only dared to distract his attention for a second to look round; but Odd was still there, he hadn't been de-virtualised. He wasn't looking too good; he moved slowly as he staggered to his feet, clutching his head. Ulrich stood; something was wrong with Odd, and Ulrich would have to defend him. He redirected his attention to the monsters; his own sabre became a blur as he deflected each shot, determined not to let a single one through.

"Odd, what's wrong?" He called out; hoping that Odd was still with him, but not daring to look.

"I'm okay." Came Odd's response; slow and uncertain. "It just… hurts. Why does it hurt for real?"

"I don't know." Ulrich was relieved to hear that Odd wasn't seriously hurt; but it was still worrying, would the same happen to him? "Michael? What's going on?" He shouted at the sky.

"I'm sorry guys; but I don't really know." Came the response. "Aelita said something about the scanners being offline."

"That would explain why it hurts then." Ulrich mused. "How are the girls doing?"

"Not good I'm afraid. They're pinned down by a large group of… Krabs?"

Great; the girls were under attack as well, with no hope of being re-materialised. This mission was suicidal; what if another one of them didn't come back? For the first time, Ulrich felt real fear gripping him. Aelita was a good Lyoko warrior, but she wasn't up to the standards of the rest of them; she would only use her weapons if she was really pushed to… and Yumi had been left with her. Yumi would be trying her best to fight and protect Aelita at the same time; and even though Ulrich knew how good she was, he couldn't stop his concerns that she might slip up. If she did; then they'd lose Yumi as well.

A well placed shot distracted Ulrich from his thoughts; he had to jump to one side to avoid it. One thing was for sure; if he couldn't concentrate, he'd be the one going down.

"Odd, can you fight?" He shouted. Odd didn't respond with words; instead three laser arrows flicked past, blasting another one of the tarantulas to pieces. Ulrich smiled. "Nice one Odd; but we'd better get out of here, we've got to go and help the girls."

Ulrich didn't wait for a response before turning to run; normally he would have used his super sprint, but that would've left Odd behind. He ran on normally; relieved to see Odd beside him, moving in his usual cat-like fashion.

They ran for some distance; past boulders and blocks of ice jutting out from the ground, the dark stone piercing through the never ending white that surrounded them; the contrast was almost poetic. There was no time for poetry; the monsters harried them as they ran, the red blasts from behind serving as a constant reminder of the lethal fate that pursued them.

"Persistent aren't they?" Odd said; through a barely concealed grin. "Kind of like Sissi don't you think?"

"We've just got to shake them off somehow." Ulrich responded; ignoring Odd's joking comments.

"What about there?" Odd pointed to a pair of huge cliffs between which a snaking canyon ran.

"Perfect."

[*]

Ulrich had used his super sprint to get ahead of Odd and the Tarantulas; now he lay in wait. He was concealed not far into the canyon; using a group of rocks to hide himself, he lay in ambush.

He didn't have to wait long; Odd's panting breath and the sound of laser fire soon reached his ears. They sounded close; maybe at the canyon entrance, it wouldn't be long before they were upon him. He placed himself in a ready stance to attack as they approached. Odd ran straight past him, but Ulrich waited for one second before pouncing.

Leaping up into the air, Ulrich cleared the rocks with ease. He came down on the lead Tarantula and thrust at it; the monster had no time to react before the shining blade pierced straight through the logo that it bore on its head. Ulrich was on his feet and running again before it even exploded; the remaining two monsters stopped in their confusion. Ulrich's attack had had the desired effect; he smiled as he left the other end of the canyon, to where Odd was waiting… and something else.

A tower; a vast beige cylinder rose from the middle of the plateau before them. With its seemingly vine-like structure at its base; it looked very out of place in the middle of the snow and ice, even if it was identical to every other tower on Lyoko. However, this tower was different from all of the others; it glowed with a menacing red. Xana had activated this tower.

"But why didn't the super scanner pick it up?" Odd asked as Ulrich ran up beside him; Odd was still staring at the activated tower.

"Xana's sabotaged everything else; so why not the super scanner as well?" Ulrich responded; failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Xana had predicted their actions perfectly and they were now caught in an almost impossible trap.

Odd opened his mouth to speak; but a blast from behind stopped him. The two remaining Tarantulas had pursued them from the Canyon and now ran straight for them; jumping up onto their hind legs just to be able to shoot.

Before either of the boys could begin to defend themselves; a screeching sound echoed at them and a pair of glowing objects sliced their way through the first monster; the second seemed to be engulfed in pink lightning and writhed in pain before both were destroyed. Two familiar shapes emerged from behind where the monsters had been; one black and the other pink.


	19. Chapter 19

Aelita was so relieved to see the two boys before her that she wanted to run at them, but pain stopped her from doing so. She contented herself with walking forwards slowly; everything seemed to hurt, even producing her energy field had been difficult due to the searing pain in her hand. Yumi and Ulrich greeted each other enthusiastically; though they all noticed that Odd seemed subdued.

"Odd, are you okay?" Yumi asked; concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah." Odd's answer was unconvincing; he kept holding and shaking his head.

"He was shot by one of those Tarantulas earlier." Ulrich said, "What about you; are you alright?"

"Fine." Yumi responded dismissively.

"What about Aelita?"

"Not too good; she took a few hits. She's finding it hard to fight."

Aelita knew they were talking about her, but none of the words were sinking in. It were as though they were speaking from a great distance. They seemed to move slowly as they spoke as well; as though Aelita were watching a slow-motion playback of the whole scene.

"So, what's the plan now?" Ulrich's voice penetrated Aelita's mind slowly.

"I'm guessing that we deactivate the tower." Yumi said; her voice too was slow and thick. "Maybe we can launch a return to the past after that. What do you think Aelita?"

They were speaking to her; asking her questions. Aelita tried to answer, but she couldn't find the words in her mind; it all seemed foggy. The answers were there but she couldn't find them; everything moved so slowly, like a very thick soup. It was getting thicker; the others were speaking again but their words were indistinct. An aching pain filled Aelita's head; was it connected to the soup-like fog?

It surrounded her now; everywhere she looked she could only see thick, white fog. The others had gone; they no longer spoke, but Aelita knew they were still there. Her head was much clearer now; she could even bring herself to speak, but there was no one there to listen.

She walked forwards into the fog; but no matter how fast she went, nothing emerged from it. She had no sense that she was actually moving; all of the fog was the same, there were no other objects to measure her progress by. She didn't know why she turned around; to go backwards was just as futile as walking forwards; but what she saw behind her was shocking.

Jeremie stood behind her. Though she had been half expecting this ever since she had stepped foot on Lyoko; she didn't expect to see him like this. He was covered in injuries; his skin was blue, purple and black in places and there were deep red stains on his clothes; yet he stood there looking strangely pleased with himself.

"Hi Aelita." He said; in a strangely cheerful fashion.

"Jeremie." Aelita gasped; she was filled with horror. "Did Xana do this to you?"

"You figured it out then?" He was smiling at her.

"Yes. Xana captured you; and tortured you… Oh Jeremie. I'm sorry; I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault." He was trying to comfort her. "Xana's plans are impossible to predict; the only thing we can do is respond to them when he attacks."

"I guess you're right… The voice and the visions; they were you weren't they?"

"Yeah;" Jeremie nodded, still smiling broadly. "Reforming the connection between you and the supercomputer was an accident; but it was useful."

"Then why didn't you just send me a clear message?" Aelita knew how stupid the question sounded from the moment it left her mouth; and sure enough, Jeremie laughed.

"Manipulating someone's thoughts is harder than rewriting a computer program. That and Xana was trying to stop me." Of course; Aelita knew that it would be complicated enough even without Xana's interference. It would depend largely on the strength of the connection; but there wasn't time to worry about details like that, they had more pressing concerns.

"We have to get you out; where are you?"

"I'm not sure." Jeremie's smile left his face and Aelita was sorry to see it go; she much preferred a happy Jeremie. "Somewhere in Lyoko; I'm right near a mass of data. I can see everything; all of Lyoko's basic codes, it's almost as though I can feel it." He spoke dreamily; his eyes glazed over. "I can almost reach out and touch it; change it."

"Don't!" Aelita cried out suddenly; it seemed to break Jeremie out of his thoughts. Everything that he had described to her seemed dreadfully familiar and it all carried a menacing feel. "You must be on the edge of the digital sea." She said; it was the only place she knew of that was anything like that.

"That would explain it." Jeremie's expression became very serious.

"I'll get you out Jeremie; somehow I'll find a way. I promise." At these words; Jeremie smiled again.

"I know you will."

[*]

"Aelita?" Ulrich called to the girl who lay before him. It was no good; Aelita was out cold. She had simply fallen down; just like she had in the lab, but this time it was more serious; people didn't just faint on Lyoko.

"Aelita, wake up!" Yumi was shouting desperately; shaking the pink haired girl in a feeble attempt to rouse her. It seemed to work though; Aelita's eyes opened slowly. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Yumi continued.

"Yes." Aelita spoke feebly, "Just stop shaking me."

Yumi quickly stopped and pulled her arms away; letting Aelita simply lie back on the ice. Ulrich knew why Yumi was so worried; they were so occupied with their own conversation that they had barely noticed when Aelita fell, only Odd alerted them to it. It hardly surprised him; Aelita was having a harder time than any of them, he was almost expecting something like this to happen.

"What happened to you; why did you pass out?" Yumi asked; it was clear that she was taking great pains in not assisting Aelita as she sat up.

"It was Jeremie; he contacted me." Aelita's response was filled with uncertainty; but at what, Ulrich didn't know. Yumi had told him about Aelita's theory, that Jeremie was being held by Xana; it was crazy. "I know where he is."

"You think he's been captured by Xana." Ulrich said; sure that it was going to be Aelita's next sentence.

"He HAS been captured." Aelita's voice was now confident and forceful.

"You saw him die-"

"I saw something which looked like Jeremie; we don't know if it actually was."

"So you're saying…" Odd cut in; he was sitting away from the other three, watching his own tail. "…that Xana kidnapped Jeremie and replaced him without any of us even noticing? How? He never left our sight."

"He did; when he entered the scanner." Aelita was beginning to sound frustrated now. "He went through a complete scanner cycle and Xana took him then. What came out was just a body; there was nothing in it."

"And all these visions and voices you've been hearing?" Yumi asked.

"They were Jeremie as well; he was trying to tell me that he's still alive."

"But if he's on Lyoko; why can't he contact all of us?" Ulrich voiced the question that had been bugging him for a while.

"To do that he would have to access Lyoko's systems." Aelita sighed as she said it; her voice no longer forceful. "That could be dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"He could be pulled into the digital sea."

Aelita pulled herself to her feet and walked away from them; only a few paces, but enough to separate herself from the group. Something alerted Ulrich from the corner of his eye and he looked around quickly; back in the direction they had come from, where the canyon and its boulders stood. He was sure he had seen something… movement; was it near those rocks over there? No; that was stupid, he was just allowing himself to become paranoid; the movement must've been Odd.

"If you don't want to help me; I'll understand." Aelita continued; not looking at any of them. "But whatever you decide; I'm going to do everything I can to find Jeremie."

Ulrich exchanged a surprised glance with Odd; how could she think they would abandon her? It wasn't like they were going to go anywhere anyway. He turned to say this, but halted; Yumi was staring away from the group, looking right at the same rocks that had caught Ulrich's attention moments before. Did she see something he couldn't?

"Yumi; wha-" Was all that Ulrich managed to get out of his mouth before Yumi screamed.

"AELITA! LOOK OUT!"

It all happened so fast. Ulrich heard the firing just after Yumi had begun to move; she sprinted straight towards Aelita. Aelita, caught in the act of turning around, held a look of utter shock on her face as Yumi ploughed into her; she was thrown some distance away. Yumi, on the other hand, was blasted in a different direction as three glowing red streaks smashed into her; the force of the lasers knocked her high into the air and she screamed out. Ulrich was faintly aware of the sound of laser arrows being let loose and an explosion somewhere in the distance as Yumi was de-virtualised in front of him. He neither moved, nor made a sound, as Yumi's form disintegrated.


	20. Chapter 20

Ulrich stared at the spot where Yumi had been. His mind screamed; crying out in protest. He couldn't have seen what he had thought he had seen; it was impossible. Yumi had been just there, right next to him; now she wasn't.

Yet he knew. Ulrich knew in his heart that Yumi was gone; he had stood by and watched as that monster had simply blasted her into oblivion. Without the scanners, being de-virtualised meant death; death meant that he'd never see her again.

He heard a cry and saw Aelita rushing over to the point where Yumi had vanished; down on all fours as though hoping to find her buried somewhere under the ice. She smacked her fist into the ground in frustration, before looking straight at Ulrich. He caught her glance for a second before she looked away and he knew what she must've seen. His mind was completely disordered; half wanted to bury his head, half wanted to scream and shout.

It was Aelita's brief glance which united the two parts of his mind. Both had found something to focus their feelings on; and they powered him into movement. He darted forwards; reaching Aelita in an instant, his foot drew back and swung out. Aelita cried in pain as Ulrich's foot delivered a powerful blow directly into her stomach; Odd shouted in protest, but Ulrich wasn't listening. His rage and anger was focused on the girl in front of him and he felt a savage pleasure as she was knocked onto her back by the sheer force of his kick. He knew she deserved it; it was for her that they were here, for her that they had risked their lives and lost Yumi. She had pulled them into Xana's trap on a pointless endeavour and now he would make her realise it.

He drew his sabre and held it down; such that its blade was almost against Aelita's throat. Rage held his sword; the pain in his heart told him that it was this girl's fault that Yumi was lost. He wanted to strike, to slice, to finish this; but something held him back. Something in his heart was fighting against the rage; trying to take control of his sword arm. He knew not what it was; but it held him for a moment as Aelita looked directly into his eyes.

He couldn't break away from Aelita's stare; those green eyes held him fast. He saw it. Ulrich saw all of the pain and sorrow that she had experienced in the past two days. He saw her anger and frustration; he felt them himself. Aelita had been through all of this; she hadn't asked for it, she didn't want Yumi to save her.

Ulrich's arm relaxed and he withdrew his sword. The last thought about Yumi had told him something; that she had sacrificed herself to save Aelita. If Ulrich had struck; Yumi's efforts would have been in vain. He couldn't let that happen.

"I'm sorry." He began to say; but Aelita held up her hand to stop him.

"It's okay." She responded; so sincerely. "I know how you feel; and you're right. I led you all into this trap; it's my fault."

"You couldn't have known." Ulrich said; he wasn't sure if all of his anger had left him yet, but he wanted to comfort her. When she was under his sword, she had looked terrified. He wanted to say something to calm her down; but this time he was interrupted by Odd's voice, calling over from behind them.

"Hey; you two. We've got company."

Aelita watched as Ulrich rushed over to Odd's side, his sword held ready. She tried to stand, but was filled with pain; It flared in her stomach where Ulrich had kicked her and through her chest and arm where the monsters had shot her. The pain reminded her of how Ulrich had just been; nothing but rage. She knew exactly how he felt, exactly as she did when she thought that Jeremie had been killed.

Now Yumi was gone. The person who had protected her- helped her; whilst Aelita had grieved for Jeremie. Yumi had now sacrificed herself to help Aelita bring Jeremie back. It made her feel hollow inside. Even if she did manage it; how could she ever look at Jeremie again without being reminded that to bring him back had cost Yumi. What's more; how would Jeremie feel if he knew this?

Aelita shook herself from those thoughts; she needed to be in the here and now if the rest of them were going to get out alive. She forced herself to her feet, despite the objections from her stomach; and the sight that greeted her was stunning.

A wall of monsters advanced toward them. It was huge; comprising of Kankrelauts, Bloks, Krabs, Tarantulas and even Megatanks; many dozens of monsters. The sight caused Aelita to freeze as memories flooded into her mind; advancing monsters, rocks, mountains, laser fire and Jeremie's voice calling down to her from the sky. The memories rushed past her and filled her with dread. This time there were no rocks to hide behind, no paths to run down; and nobody to come charging to her rescue.

"Aelita." Odd's voice called over to her; pulling her back from the flood of memories. "You've got to get to the tower; we'll cover you."

It took time for the words to sink in; and even longer before Aelita could persuade herself to move, but she managed it. She made straight for the tower; but was stopped in her tracks as a volley of laser fire impacted the ground at her feet. Before her was another wall of monsters; just as big as the first, but it stood between her and the tower. She made to run back; away from the tower, but once again found monsters blocking her path. Aelita span on the spot… they were surrounded.

She found herself closed in; back-to-back with the two boys, each one of them facing the monsters. She knew that if they advanced much further; that they might simply be crushed. The monsters stopped. Holding position just a few paces away; each one took aim, preparing to blast the three Lyoko warriors out of existence; just as they had done to Yumi.

Aelita was ready; she awaited the wave a laser fire that would wipe them out. In some ways she greeted it; being de-virtualised forever would end all of the suffering, what did it matter if Xana simply took over the world? No, she told herself. That was no way for a Lyoko warrior to think; Jeremie had taught her that it didn't matter what happened, the world had to be safe. She held out her hand; prepared to summon an energy field, she wouldn't go without a fight. Aelita waited to fire; the moment that Xana unleashed his monsters' volley.

But it didn't come. The monsters stood ready to fire; but didn't.

"What's going on? Why don't they shoot?" Odd asked from behind her.

Aelita didn't dare take her eyes away from the horde before her. "I think…" She said, "I think that Xana wants us to surrender. He wants to take us alive." It was the only reason she could think of, but it made perfect sense; Xana would be able to use them to his own evil purposes.

"I'd rather not let him." Ulrich said; through gritted teeth.

"Agreed." Odd spoke up, "If Xana wants us alive; I suggest we deny him of the pleasure of our company. What do you think Princess?"

Aelita didn't respond. She was inclined to agree with Odd, they should do everything in their power to stop or delay Xana; but she had promised Jeremie that she would save him. If she followed Odd's suggestion she would break her promise; she would be leaving Jeremie in Xana's hands; but if she didn't then she would be taken by Xana as well and then she wouldn't be able to help Jeremie at all. Aelita couldn't bring herself to decide; whatever she did would put Jeremie into more trouble and could even bring an end to everything they had fought for.

"That won't be necessary." A voice called to them from the sky; one which Aelita recognised instantly… Jeremie.


	21. Chapter 21

"Jeremie?" Odd called; disbelief clear in his voice, Aelita actually saw him looking up into the sky.

Aelita felt it before anyone even saw it; it was a sudden change in the whole of Lyoko, as power changed hands. The ground shook in a strangely familiar fashion; one that Aelita hadn't felt in a long time. She instinctively looked towards the tower and saw what she knew would be there; the red aura around it slowly changed to a bright green.

"Jeremie. No." Aelita said quietly; he was doing just what she feared he would do. He was about to sacrifice himself once again to save her.

"What's going on?" Ulrich asked; evidently he had heard her.

Aelita couldn't bring herself to tell him. The monsters that surrounded them looked about in confusion; they were receiving no more orders and didn't know what they should be doing. Aelita knew. She could feel the unseen battle that went on in the very system codes of Lyoko itself; Jeremie struggled against Xana and the winner would take Aelita, Odd and Ulrich as their prize.

"Xana can't match me." Jeremie said confidently; and as he did so, several of the monsters exploded. Several more followed soon after and the rest of the horde began a disorganised retreat; desperate to escape the thing that they couldn't see.

Aelita watched the monsters retreat; she should've been happy, but she wasn't. The longer Jeremie kept this up, the more of him that was being lost to the digital sea. "Look Jeremie, you've done enough." She said; desperate to make him understand whilst there was still some of him left. "Now please stop."

"I want you safe." He said simply. Aelita felt a stab in her heart; all that she wanted was for him to be safe as well. "I want all of you safe. I saved Yumi."

"Yumi's alive?" Ulrich spoke up; his voice full of hope and relief, such that Aelita had never heard before.

"Yes." Jeremie responded proudly. "I materialised her. She's unconscious, but okay; my father's taking care of her."

"But what about you?" Aelita was surprised by how desperate her own voice sounded; but she felt it too. "If you don't stop we'll lose you."

"I'm just fixing the materialisation program first; besides, I've taken care of that."

It took Aelita a moment to understand what Jeremie was trying to tell her; but soon she realised that the answer was staring her in the face… the tower. Jeremie was using its power to keep himself together and stop the digital sea from drowning him. She felt so relieved and proud at the same time.

"Jeremie; you're a genius." Aelita said; a broad smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah, I know." Jeremie paused for a moment before his voice became very serious. "You guys should be okay now; the materialisation program is fixed. There's just one more thing we have to do."

"What's that?" Aelita was worried, she had stopped smiling; the seriousness in Jeremie's voice was unnerving.

"Deactivate the tower."

"What!?" Aelita couldn't believe what Jeremie had just said. "Don't you realise that if we do that you'll be scattered into the digital sea? We'll lose you forever."

"We have to." Jeremie spoke solemnly. "Xana's fighting back. If he takes over this tower again; he'll be able to take control of me. Then there's no telling what he'll do."

Aelita looked to the boys for support; but found none. Odd was simply staring into the sky, as though unsure whether any of this was happening; Ulrich looked away into the distance, his expression unreadable. She turned away from them to speak to Jeremie. "But I'll find a way to free you; I'll get you out of there."

"There's no time Aelita; and anyway, I don't want to go back to Xana."

"I don't want to lose you… not again." Aelita knew that she was clutching at straws now; she just wanted a moment longer to hear his voice.

"Please Aelita; do this for me."

[*]

The journey into the tower was the longest that Aelita had ever experienced; she felt time dragging its feet and yet still moving towards the moment she dreaded. She never imagined that one day she might be throwing Jeremie away; in some ways she was saving him from a worse fate, but she would have to suffer for it as well.

She floated up to the top of the tower; and the platform lit up as she placed her feet upon it. The symbol of Xana was clear on the floor; Aelita wondered what he must be thinking as he watched all of this. The blue interface popped up in the air before her; inviting her forwards, toward that final moment.

Aelita hesitated. Some of the things Yumi had said to her drifted to the front of her mind. If she was never going to see Jeremie again then she had to tell him- she had to hear his response.

"Jeremie," She said nervously; keenly aware that her voice was shaking. "Are you there?"

"Yes." Jeremie responded. He sounded different; weaker. Xana must be putting up quite a fight.

"Jeremie. There's something important I have to tell you." She hesitated again; she had to get the words right.

"Aelita… hurry."

She knew that she had to move. It seemed so painful to place her hand onto the interface and watch as it recognised her; her hand was shaking almost as much as her voice; and she was sure that, had she been on Earth, tears would've been pouring down her face.

The code was entered; there was nothing more she could do. Aelita heard a noise around her as though a great machine were powering down. The screens of data that covered the black walls of the tower vanished, disappearing into the abyss below her. Everything became dark and silent.

"Jeremie?" Aelita said; her voice barely above a whisper.

"Goodbye, Aelita." Jeremie's response seemed to come from below her; but it was so faint.

Aelita knew she would have to speak quickly. "Jeremie, I-" The words caught in her throat. "I… I love you." She finally managed to whisper… and waited.

Nothing. There was no response. Jeremie was already gone.


	22. Chapter 22

Aelita didn't know who had activated the materialisation; she didn't care. All she did know was that she was now standing surrounded by the familiar bright light of the scanner. It let out a whine and a hiss as a crack appeared in the light; which then grew as the doors slid open and the real world presented itself.

Yumi, Ulrich and Odd were standing just in front of the scanner; and though Aelita felt relief at seeing them alive and well, right now she hated them. She hated them for being there; she hated them for looking at her, with almost accusing stares; she even hated having to look at them.

Before anyone could say or do anything Aelita had pushed past the three of them; marching intently for the lift. She just wanted to get out of here; get as far away as possible, run and never look back… she stopped in her tracks. The lift would take her to Michael. How could she even face him after what she had just done?

A long silence as Aelita stood; indecisive. She could feel the stares of the others, but she kept her back to them. She couldn't bring herself to look at any of them; there was not a chance that any of them could begin to understand how she felt. Xana had taken Jeremie from her, not once; but twice. As her thoughts fell back to Jeremie, Aelita's sense of loss threatened to overwhelm her; tears filled her eyes and quickly began to run down her face, she screwed it up to stop them. Aelita didn't want the others to know she was crying, as she sniffed audibly; even though it was the only thing she felt like doing. She tried to stifle a sob; but failed.

"Aelita?" Yumi said in the most gentle tone imaginable; she must have been hoping to soothe her, but she only succeeded in bringing back Aelita's contempt. Aelita grasped onto it instantly; it would keep her from sobbing. Yumi paused and Aelita knew that she was looking for the right words; she didn't understand at all, how could she? She had Ulrich; and Aelita hated her for it.

Part of her mind called out in protest, not believing what she had just thought; she was actually envious of Yumi. Yumi had people who loved her; her parents, her brother; and Ulrich. Whereas Aelita was alone, isolated; her mother was dead; she did not know where here father was... and now Jeremie. Aelita knew that she loved him, but not how he felt about her; and now she would never find out.

Yumi finally seemed to find the words to say, "Look Aelita; it wasn't your fault."

"What?" Aelita said spinning round; noticing the others flinch slightly. Yumi was standing slightly in front of the two boys; neither of whom seemed to have moved at all.

"I said it wasn't your fault." Yumi repeated herself; with more confidence, though Aelita could still see that she looked wary.

"It wasn't my fault?" Aelita repeated disbelievingly; how could Yumi say that? "I did it." Her voice was shaky. "I did it, don't you see?" She was raising her voice with each word, but unable to stop herself. "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

The others flinched. Yumi even took a step back. Aelita was breathing heavily and her heart was racing, but she kept shouting. "Jeremie wouldn't have even been taken by Xana if it weren't for me; he tried to save me!" She could feel more tears rolling down her cheeks; but didn't care. "Then he did it again; and I just walked into that tower and entered the code. I simply threw him straight into the digital sea. I KILLED HIM!"

Aelita stopped. A lump had entered her throat as she had screamed those last three words; it was an awful truth. She was staring at the floor, even though tears clouded her vision as they flooded from her eyes and her throat burned. She no longer cared that the others were present; she simply started sobbing, trying to free the emotions that churned inside her.

Yumi stepped forwards; Aelita recognised her black clothing instantly; and pulled her into her arms. Aelita let her own arms wrap around Yumi. The hug was wonderful; it was warm, motherly and caring. Aelita cried into Yumi's shoulder; aware that the tears would soak her friend's top, but neither seemed to care. It was like being hugged by her mother again; as if they were sharing their feelings. Soon enough, Aelita stopped sobbing; and even the tears were not as intense. She felt like a child again, after she'd tripped and fell; held in her mother's arms.

"I just want Jeremie back." Aelita muttered; so that just Yumi could hear her. She knew it was a childish comment, but she was still a child; and maybe she had been forced to grow up too quickly.

"I know. I do too." Yumi said, her voice cracked and uneven; and Aelita realised, from the sound of her voice, that Yumi was crying too.

Michael sat by himself in the computer chair; he maintained a stony silence as he stared at the machine next to him. Yumi and Aelita sat together on the floor. Propped up against a wall with their arms around each other they gazed off into space; each with tear stained faces and bloodshot eyes. Even Odd was subdued. Having not said a word for the last quarter of an hour, he rested himself on top of the holo-sphere and looked straight up at the ceiling.

Ulrich knew what they were all thinking. They had all shared the hope that Jeremie might be coming back to them, only to lose him again. It was very much worse than losing him the first time.

It was worse for Aelita, he thought. She had to go through more than any of them; and Ulrich knew how she felt, having come within an inch of losing Yumi himself. Though he hadn't been the one to do it; unlike Aelita. Ulrich had actually had to stop himself from crying as she had shouted that at the three of them; all of her pain and sorrow had exploded out of her and she had made them all feel it. Even as Yumi had hugged Aelita and both girls had broken down into tears, Ulrich had wanted to join them; but he couldn't cry, he had to be the strong one.

"It's not over." Aelita said; it was a quiet assertion. The others looked at her; waiting for her to say more, but she didn't elaborate.

"What do you mean?" Asked Yumi; speaking into the girl's ear. Ulrich noticed that Aelita's eyes were unfocused; even as she was talking to them, she didn't seem to see them.

"Jeremie's not dead." Aelita stated simply; still staring into nothing, as though miles away from the conversation.

Ulrich exchanged a significant look with Odd and Yumi; all of them seemed to be having the same worried thoughts… the same feeling of déjà vu.

"But Aelita; we saw it happen, he's gone. He's dead." Ulrich spoke; trying desperately to keep his voice as level as possible.

Aelita looked straight at him, then Odd, then Yumi; it were as though she had only just noticed them, only just realised that she was having a conversation. She pulled away from Yumi and made a gap between them; gently pushing Yumi's arms back, before facing them.

"He fell into the digital sea; it's not the same thing." Aelita responded; sounding just as she did when explaining one of the computer's complicated processes to them.

"It's as good as." Odd interjected; his voice far from cheerful, he spoke with a strange contempt.

"Not really. He might not be conscious any more; but he's still there. If I could find him, I could bring him back." She sounded so hopeful that Ulrich couldn't bring himself to say what popped into his mind. Fortunately; Odd could.

"We're not going back to Lyoko again." He said; rather forcefully.

"We won't have to; I can do it from here."

"But Aelita." Michael spoke for the first time, taking Ulrich by surprise; He'd quite forgotten that the man was there.

"But what?" Aelita interrupted him, "Don't you want Jeremie back?"

"Of course I do;" Michael spoke with such a clam and reasonable voice that it was hard not to listen to him, "but you have to get on with your life."

"I will. I can do it in whatever free time I have; just like how we fight Xana." Aelita was beginning to sound desperate.

"Aelita, think about it practically." Ulrich found himself saying, "Even if you can do it; it could take days, months… maybe even years." The last thing Ulrich wanted to do was put Aelita off; he felt some of her hope infecting him too; but he had to make sure she understood what she was saying.

"I know Ulrich." She responded. "But I have to try. I promised Jeremie that I'd get him out no matter what; I won't give up." She was looking straight into his eyes; and Ulrich knew she was speaking the truth. "Anyway; I think he'd do the same for me."

Ulrich knew she was right and it made him smile, "Yeah, I think he would." He said; and was relieved to see Aelita give him a small smile in return.

Everyone else went quiet; they had run out of arguments, or even the will to argue. None of them wanted to try and stop her; they all shared this fresh hope she had given them. Ulrich knew that just like Jeremie; when he had set out to materialise Aelita; that there was nothing in the world that could dissuade her now. She'd keep trying; no matter how long it took.


	23. Chapter 23

The lift door opened and the three of them moved as quietly as they could into the lab. Yumi stood ahead of the two boys and was dismayed by what she saw. The lab was messier than usual; to one side there was a simple camp bed set up with the sheets still folded neatly on top of it, unused; beside it was a white plastic carrier bag which Yumi knew contained clothes, the top of the bag was still tied shut; around this were a camping stove and scattered packets of food, very few of which seemed to have been opened. Looking towards the centre of the room Yumi saw many technical magazines and books; some lain out carefully at open pages, others in unstable piles by the holo-sphere and yet more crumpled and damaged lying against the wall, seemingly thrown carelessly aside. One familiar-looking book lay open on the floor under the computer chair, its pages face down and several folded due to its fall. On the chair, facing away from them, was Aelita.

Yumi and the two boys walked slowly over to her; all three careful not to tread on any of the books. Aelita was sitting in the chair hunched forwards; her arms lying across the keyboard and her head rested on them. As they approached, Aelita made no sign of recognising their presence; it was only as they got close that they understood. Aelita was unmoving, her eyes closed. If it weren't for her heavy breathing, Yumi could've said she was dead; however, she only lay in a deep sleep. So deep was it that Aelita didn't even stir as the lift behind them rattled and clanked its way back to the top of its shaft.

Odd sighed and made a quiet 'tutting' noise as Ulrich bent down to retrieve the book that had fallen underneath the chair; he wiped it with his hand and flattened out all of the creased pages before holding it up for Yumi to inspect. She knew instantly why it had looked familiar; it was the manual that Jeremie had written for the supercomputer, Yumi doubted if even Jeremie had found a way to pull someone out of the digital sea.

Yumi placed her hands on Aelita's shoulders and shook her gently, calling her name into her ear as she did so. Even after Yumi had started shaking vigorously, it had taken several moments to rouse Aelita and wake her sufficiently. When she managed it, Yumi saw that the girl was in a terrible state; Aelita's hair was even more untidy than usual, sticking up in odd places; her clothes were dirty and creased, having not been changed; her face was pale and there were large bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep.

Aelita yawned loudly and stretched up to the ceiling; she didn't seem at all surprised to find Yumi, Odd and Ulrich standing around her; and just as Yumi was about to speak, Aelita spoke first.

"What day is it?" She asked; her ragged appearance only enhanced by the tiredness in her voice.

"Sunday." Ulrich answered; Aelita looked mildly surprised, but otherwise dismissive. Yumi knew that it was difficult to feel the passage of time if you spent all of it in the lab.

"Have you found anything?" Yumi said, even though she already knew the answer; If Aelita had found Jeremie, she would've told them by now.

Aelita looked away from the three of them, looking deliberately at the floor instead. "No, nothing much; just a few fragments." She spoke quietly, as though she didn't quite believe what she was saying.

"Anything useful?" Odd questioned.

"No." Aelita sounded completely despondent and Yumi knew why; she was disappointed with herself.

"Maybe you should take a break, get some rest." Ulrich suggested.

"No," Aelita asserted, sounding much more awake and alert. "I've got to keep trying." And at this she actually did turn back to the computer and attempt to pick up where she had left off before falling asleep.

"Aelita, you've got to sleep." Yumi found herself saying, trying not to raise her voice. "You've been working in here for six days straight; you've skipped school, you've barely slept or eaten;" Yumi indicated the bed and food in the corner, "And you certainly haven't washed."

"It doesn't matter, it'll be worth it once I find Jeremie, you'll see." Aelita spoke in a flat tone, not even looking at the others; she stared at the computer screen attempting to concentrate. "Has anyone at school noticed?"

"Yes," Ulrich answered her, "But fortunately, Michael has managed to convince Delmus that you've just taken some time off and have gone home for a week."

Aelita made no response to this; she continued staring at the computer screen, though Yumi noticed that her eyes kept sliding in and out of focus. Yumi felt a slight twitch of annoyance; Aelita didn't even seem to be grateful for the effort that they were going to just so she could sit in here all day. Yumi wanted to say something, maybe point this out; but she knew that it would in no way help the situation.

"Aelita, you can't keep working all night like this." Odd said, steeping into the conversation, "Look, you're exhausted. If you keep working when you're tired then you'll just make mistakes." Ulrich and Yumi nodded in agreement, "Jeremie did it all the time."

Yumi knew that it was a bad idea to mention Jeremie right now; and sure enough, Aelita turned to Odd with a deep scowl and said, in a very confrontational tone of voice, "So everything Jeremie did was a mistake was it?"

"That's not what Odd meant." Yumi spoke up, jumping in to try and salvage the situation. "Aelita you've got to try to get back to doing something else, something normal and everyday. Jeremie managed it; and he worked on your materialisation program for over a year."

"Precisely!" Aelita exclaimed; turning quickly back to Yumi, her voice no longer flat and level; now filled with emotion. "Jeremie worked on that for over a year; and then he worked on the anti-virus for months as well. After all that- and everything else he's done for me- how can I give up after just six days!?"

Yumi was hurt; how could Aelita think that they were asking her to give up? The three of them wanted Jeremie back just as much, "We're not asking you to give up." She said quietly, "We just want to make sure that you keep yourself healthy whilst you're working."

Odd and Ulrich both expressed their agreement enthusiastically and Yumi knew that she had had some kind of effect on Aelita; she was no longer scowling, instead only looking thoughtfully at the opposite wall. Yumi knew that now was the best time to ask.

"Aelita; Just have a nap, wash and I'll make us something to eat;" She said, in her best caring motherly voice. "I promise that you can go straight back to working on this the moment that we are finished, okay?"

Yumi let Aelita look her straight in the eyes; it was surprising how deep the pink-haired girl's dark green eyes seemed to go. Yumi didn't know what she'd find behind those eyes; but what she did know was how grateful she was when Aelita nodded her head.

[*]

The rest of the day had not gone well. After helping Aelita to get washed and changed in what remained of the factory's bathroom, Yumi had insisted that Aelita take a quick nap. Aelita had agreed; but woke later to her annoyance to find that Yumi and the others had let her sleep for a solid nine hours. Yumi had prepared her food, a simple lunch of sandwiches; but Aelita had simply shouted at them for letting her sleep in so late, accusing them of not caring about Jeremie at all. They had left promptly, leaving Aelita alone in the deserted factory.

She regretted shouting at them; she hadn't meant a word she had said, but she'd said them; and that was almost as bad. She knew that it wasn't them she was angry at, that she was only frustrated with her own incompetence; Jeremie had managed to do so much with this supercomputer, but Aelita couldn't even find something in the digital sea. She didn't know why, but she couldn't make sense out of it all; even the page of data scrolling slowly in front of her might as well have been written in some foreign language. None of Jeremie's books helped at all, though Aelita was sure that they would've; if only she wasn't so useless.

She smashed her fist into the keyboard in her frustration; she knew it didn't help things and was likely to do more harm than good, but she didn't care. She just wanted some way of releasing her anger, but found that it only increased tenfold as pain shot through her little finger. She jumped to her feet and marched away, giving the chair a kick for good measure. Feeling childish as she sucked on her finger to stop it from hurting, she threw herself onto the camp bed and scowled darkly at the computer. If it weren't for her father building that thing, then she wouldn't be here now; without a father and without a Jeremie.

The computer chirruped happily away whilst she scowled at it, a light flashing happily on the screen, calling for her attention. A program must have been activated when she had hit it; but Aelita didn't know what it was and didn't much care, her attention was at this moment focused on a strange feeling from underneath her. Standing up to investigate, she realised quickly what it was; she had sat on top of the sandwiches Yumi had made for her and the contents were being squeezed out of them. The sandwiches were quite squashed, but still quite edible; and it was only then, as she looked at them and as the smell of ham and tomato filled her nostrils, that Aelita realised just how ravenous she was.

Aelita demolished the sandwiches in seconds, they tasted good; all anger with Yumi was forgotten, she was only trying to help after all. As she licked the tomato juice from her fingers, she reminded herself of Odd; he was an extremely messy eater and seemed to revel in the fact the he got food all over himself. She laughed quietly at the thought, things were definitely bad if she was acting like Odd.

The computer called for her again, in that happy little chirrup. It almost sounded as though it knew a secret that it was dying to tell everyone. Aelita shook her head. No, it was impossible; computers didn't act or feel like that; maybe she had been down here for too long. It chirruped again, happy and shrill; Aelita supposed that it would simply keep doing so until she paid attention to it. She stood up, brushed the crumbs off the front of her dress and walked over to investigate.

The screen displayed a program which was flashing brightly; highlighting something in some data stream Aelita wasn't familiar with, while a section of text scrolled beneath it. Aelita waited for the text to repeat before beginning to read it; it showed various program commands and checks that it had performed, results that it had come up with. Her eyes widened as she read through it, a mixture of shock and excitement building inside her. Aelita pinched herself, and it hurt; this was no dream, it was real.

[*]

Yumi, Odd and Ulrich relaxed under the shade of a large evergreen tree, in the forest; they had stormed out after Aelita had shouted at them. Yumi wasn't angry with her, neither did she think either of the boys were; they knew how hard Aelita was taking everything and how frustrated she was. The problem was that the others were also getting frustrated with Aelita's constant mood swings; sometimes she was perfectly content to talk with them, other times she simply let her anger take over. They wanted to leave her alone, to get on with whatever she wanted to do, but they couldn't; they had to stay with her and make sure she was alright, they couldn't just abandon her.

Yumi sighed; and Ulrich seemed to know what she was thinking, "Don't worry about it," he said, "We'll go back in a couple of hours, when she's had time to calm down. Then she'll apologise to us… again."

Odd laughed, it was a hollow laugh, but it was still very like Odd in this situation. Yumi found herself smiling slightly, Ulrich was right; they had lost count of the number of times Aelita had apologised to them that week for losing her temper; it was almost an everyday thing.

Something made Yumi jump, there was something vibrating intermittently against her thigh; it took her a moment to realise that it was her mobile phone. Pulling it from her pocket, she saw the incoming call notice; and Ulrich raised his eyebrows.

"Is this Aelita calling to apologise?" He asked, with only a slight note of humour in his voice.

Yumi shrugged. The phone number wasn't recognised, but she knew that it was most likely to be Aelita.

"Well, are you going to answer it?" Odd added; a wry smile on his face.

Yumi had forgotten that the phone was ringing, even as it lay vibrating in her hand. Embarrassed, Yumi pressed the answer button and placed the phone to her ear, "Hello?" she said.

She had expected to hear Aelita's voice from the moment that it had begun ringing; but what she had not expected was for Aelita to squeal excitedly down the phone, "I did it; I found Jeremie!"


	24. Chapter 24

"Well, Aelita, we're ready when you are." Michael called over the speakers. He and the others had come rushing the moment that Aelita had called them; now they were in the scanner room, waiting.

Aelita scanned the program one last time. All of the data seemed to be in the correct places, the correct variables entered. At least, she thought so; it was difficult to concentrate on it. He heart was hammering, doing a drum roll against her ribs and her hand was shaking as she typed in the last few strands of the program that would bring Jeremie back to them. There was a hollow pain in her stomach, she felt sick; almost like she wanted to throw up; but she forced herself to ignore it, she knew it was just her own nerves.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Another voice from the speakers; this time, Odd's.

Aelita tried to hurry herself, but it was impossible; she found herself checking the variables for the fourth time. She couldn't start the program until she was absolutely sure it would work, she didn't want to leave a single error in it anywhere. But that too was impossible, she could never be sure that it would work as she expected it to, there was no way to guarantee it.

"Aelita…?" Called Odd again; and Aelita knew she'd have to do it now. She typed in the final code.

"I'm starting the materialisation…" Aelita said; even to her own ears, her voice sounded strange. Her throat was dry. Her finger hovered over the 'enter' key; but she couldn't move it any further; her hand shook so much that she thought she might miss the key entirely. Aelita closed her eyes and crossed her other fingers, "…now." She pushed the key.

It was a lot quieter than Aelita imagined, there was no noise; had she actually pressed anything? She opened her eyes. Yes, she must have; as up on the screen, the program was finished running. Aelita couldn't be bothered reading the data on the screen, she had to know, she had to…

"Guys?" she said down the microphone, once again aware of how unusual her voice sounded. "What's going on?"

There was silence at first; but suddenly Aelita was almost deafened by a wall of sound, screams and shouts from the others down below. She didn't bother to listen, she didn't even notice whether they were shouting in joy or… Aelita threw the headset off, leapt from the chair and bolted for the lift.

[*]

The lift only needed to go down one floor, which should take no time at all; but for Aelita it was hours. The nerves returned to her and she felt like she might just lose her lunch all over the floor if those doors didn't open soon.

Finally, the lift jerked to a halt and the doors clunked, hissed and began to slide away from each other. The moment that they did so, Aelita could hear the noise from the scanner room, there was still the shouting… and laughing. Aelita felt slightly relieved, they wouldn't be laughing if anything had gone wrong; and now she could identify the voices as being exuberant.

The noise died down as the doors opened and Aelita finally got to see inside the room. It was exactly as she had hoped; Ulrich, Odd and Yumi were all standing a with large grins on their faces; Michael too was standing there with a mixed look of sheer relief and joy, his arm around the one person Aelita had prayed to see in the room; Jeremie.

Aelita took a few faltering steps into the room; even though she could see him standing there, there was part of her that couldn't believe this was really happening. He was standing there, just as he had when they were last really together; there were no injuries, much to her relief, and he smiled at her. Aelita knew that she should be happy; but after all that had happened, she still couldn't quite believe it was him standing there.

The room had gone very quiet; as all eyes were fixed on her. Aelita had read the expression 'to cut the tension with a knife', but she had never really been able to imagine how exactly that had felt; until now. They were all waiting for her to do or say something; but she didn't know what she wanted to do.

It was Jeremie who made the first move. Pushing his father's arm away gently, he walked forwards; straight towards her. He stopped when they were standing face to face; just at arm's length, a pleasant smile still upon his face; and he held out his hand. Aelita was unsure at first, her own mind working too slowly to keep up even with Jeremie's slow actions; but eventually she got his meaning and took his hand. It felt solid; and as she turned it over in her own two hands, examining it, she could feel that it was soft and warm… it was real.

In a flash, Aelita pulled Jeremie closer to her and held him in a tight embrace. Her arms wrapped around him; and she could feel his on her back as well. She could feel his warmth and the beating of his heart; it hammered away like a crazed drummer. Her own heart was beating out a fast and triumphant rhythm; her stomach seemed so light that it might simply lift her up as though she were filled with helium. Aelita had never had such a wonderful hug from anyone; she could feel tears streaming down her face, but this time they were those of joy. In the past eight days, she had never thought it was possible to be this happy. Words couldn't express it; laughter couldn't express it; only this hug could show just how happy she was.

After an age, they broke apart; but still held each other's arms. Both had wide smiles upon their faces. Looking into his eyes, Aelita wondered if Jeremie knew just how much that hug had meant to her, or if it meant as much to him. She could see his own joy expressed through his eyes, but she wanted to see exactly what he was thinking.

"Welcome back." She said, after they had looked each other in the eyes for several minutes.

Jeremie's smiled seemed to become even broader, if that was possible, "It's good to be back."

Jeremie was back where he belonged, back in the old computer chair; back in control. It seemed like months since he had last been here, with the others around him; he had never felt so content. They were all there, all beaming, all happy. Nobody spoke because there was nothing anyone could think of to say; none of them wanted to change such a joyous moment, even though they new it would have to end.

It turned out that it was Michael who was to end it first, "So, what happens now?" He asked, "Remember that you are officially dead." Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Jeremie all exchanged a grin at this; they knew exactly what was going to happen.

"Just a little thing called 'return to the past'," Jeremie said, "everything goes back to the way it was; and everyone forgets everything."

"Everyone forgets everything?" Michael echoed; a thoughtful expression had replaced the smile on his face.

"Well, everyone except for us," Jeremie indicated the kids, "So you'll forget as well."

"Humph. Maybe it's best if I forget." Michael said thoughtfully, he had brought an end to the joyous feeling, now everything was serious again.

They all sat in silence for a moment, none noticing Aelita; deep in thought after the day's events, it was a moment before she spoke.

"I want to forget too." She said suddenly; and all turned to face her.

"What?" Jeremie said; this was the last thing he had expected.

She looked directly at Jeremie when she spoke, because she knew that he would understand her. "This past week has been terrible, it's been so hard and I don't want to remember it."

Jeremie looked into her eyes. The lovely green eyes which belonged to the person he so admired; and he knew that she was speaking the truth. Aelita had been through such a hard time in this last week that Jeremie regretted being the one responsible for it; but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to just erase the memory of the time which they had been together.

"Jeremie. Please do this for me." Aelita begged; moving right up to the arm of the chair and still looking him directly in the eyes. Jeremie couldn't deny her such a pleading request.

"Okay," he responded quietly, turning back to the computer to punch in the necessary codes.

It took a minute to isolate the codes and make the changes; but soon Jeremie was ready to hit the return in time. "It's done."

"So, I'll forget?" Aelita asked; her voice hopeful.

"Yes."

"Aelita, are you sure you want to do this?" Ulrich said, speaking for the first time.

"Positive." Aelita responded confidently; her mind was set, there was no changing it now.

"I'm ready guys." Jeremie said, his finger now resting on the return key; ready to put everything back.

"Wait," Aelita said, there was a note of urgency in her voice. "Jeremie, before we do this, there's just one more thing."

Jeremie looked up at her and their eyes met once more; he could see that Aelita was embarrassed about something; small patches of pink were spreading across her cheeks. She leaned closer to him and he knew what she meant to do before it happened, yet he was still surprised; even as her lips met his, he was still surprised. Jeremie's heart leapt as they made contact and his stomach felt light, yet everything felt so right. He could see that Aelita had closed her eyes and did the same. Both of them felt as though it was the right thing to do as they were consumed in the moment and a feeling of absolute bliss.

Even as they kissed, Jeremie's hand found the 'enter' key on the computer, and pushed it.


	25. Chapter 25

The returns in time were always disorientating; and this one was no exception. In fact this one was far more than most due to the change in time being nine days rather that the usual one. Jeremie lay on his back and waited for his mind to steady itself and his eyes to regain their focus. As they did so, his thoughts went back to the kiss and how it had felt; the most wonderful feeling in the world. He wanted to go and talk to Aelita about it, maybe even kiss her again. Jeremie's mind had now cleared but his eyes were still out of focus; and he realised that he wasn't wearing his glasses.

It only took a minute for him to find them and put them on again. Once he could see again, he noticed that he was sitting on his own bed; it was early morning yet he was fully dressed. It took a moment before Jeremie remembered that this morning he had been working intently; and, after a night of no success, had simply collapsed onto his bed to sleep.

There was a knock on the door, just like the first time round; and Jeremie knew who was behind it.

"Come in." He said. The door opened and Aelita stepped through.

"Good morning, Jeremie." She said, speaking in a light and happy tone, "If you don't get a move on, you'll miss breakfast again." She spoke in such a carefree tone that Jeremie knew instantly that she had received her request; she had forgotten everything. He sighed as he thought about it, how could he ever explain what had happened; how could he tell her what they had been through?

"Hey Jeremie; are you awake?" Aelita called to him, bending down so she could look him directly in the eyes. Her face was now very close to his, just like the moment before the return in time; he could feel his cheeks burn in embarrassment, why now?

Aelita pulled back quickly, straightening up as she did so; and small patches of pink appeared in her cheeks as well. She looked intently out of the window and Jeremie felt his stomach squirm; he couldn't even bring himself to speak to her.

"Didn't get much sleep last night?" she questioned, glancing at him momentarily; Jeremie managed to respond with a strange grunting noise, which she took for a yes. "Same here." She added; still staring out of the window, no longer smiling. "I had quite a nightmare."

Jeremie looked straight at her intrigued; on the first run of this day, she had mentioned nothing about any nightmare. "What was it about?" He asked, forcing his mouth to move to speak the words.

"Well," She said slowly, fidgeting with a loose thread on her dress; "it was bad, you had been captured by Xana and we thought you were dead- it was horrible." Aelita stared quickly at the floor, blinking back tears.

Jeremie had to stop himself from crying out in shock; he didn't think that people could retain their memories after a return trip, could they? He didn't know what to tell her. She was clearly very distressed by what she thought was a dream; and she had told him that she wanted to forget, but how could he lie to her about something like that?

He stood up and stepped over to her; she didn't even look up as he did so. He placed a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. Now she looked at him, looked straight into his eyes; he was once again staring into those beautiful green eyes, belonging to the one person he would do anything to protect.

"It's okay Aelita," he said; in his most comforting voice. "It was just a nightmare, that's all. I'm still here and I always will be." He smiled at her and she smiled back; Jeremie was once again struck by how beautiful that smile was.

"You're right," she responded, "I was just being silly, that's all." She gave a weak laugh, "Thank you."

Aelita took Jeremie by surprise for the second time as she leaned towards him and pressed her lips softly against his cheek. Both of them blushed as she drew back.

"Well," She said, no longer meeting his eyes, "I'll see you at breakfast, Jeremie."

Without another word, Aelita left the room. Jeremie watched her go with a satisfied feeling in his heart; they were both happy and there was no need to change that. He wouldn't tell Aelita that the dream she had was real, she didn't need to know; not now, not ever.

* * *

_Thanks for all the good reviews; it's always nice to see. But that's it with this one; everything comes to an end, and so this has. _

_If anyone's wondering, there won't be a sequal; but you can expect to see more stories from me in the future. _


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